Can celebrities make kids vote?

It's hard to fault the efforts of Russell Simmons and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs to get young people engaged in the political process.

Three years ago, Simmons, cofounder of Def Jam Records, launched the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to "harnessing the cultural relevance of hip-hop music to serve as a catalyst for education advocacy and other societal concerns fundamental to the well-being of at-risk youth," according to its mission statement. Through its Hip-Hop Team Vote initiative, Simmons has been traveling across the country, including a stop in Boston during last month's Democratic National Convention, registering young people to vote. So far, HSAN claims to have registered more than 12 million potential new voters, between the ages of 18-35, since the last presidential election.

And last month Combs, who has made it his business to mimic everything Simmons does, announced the creation of his own voter-awareness campaign, Citizen Change. MTV is also again promoting its "Choose or Lose" strategy with the goal of getting 20 million young people to vote in November.

Typically, these efforts are packaged to be more appealing to young people. HSAN invites top hip-hop stars, including Eminem, Lloyd Banks, and Andre 3000 to participate in its summits. Citizen Change comes complete with a catchy slogan, "Vote or Die," emblazoned on T-shirts. Combs even believes voting can be marketed to young people "the same way we make a Biggie album, a Sean John shirt, or a `Spider-Man' movie hot, cool, and sexy." During his Boston visit, Simmons said his group will make voting so trendy that "no one is going to work on that Tuesday [Election Day] and saying they didn't vote. They'll be embarrassed."

Of course, getting young people to register to vote -- especially when doing so allows them to be in the same room with their favorite hip-hop celebrities -- is one thing. Actually getting them to go to the polls and cast a vote is quite another. And for all the organizations' well-meaning fervor, it's unclear whether Simmons or Combs would be able to claim any successes without the irresistible lure of celebrity.

At HSAN's Boston summit, congresswomen Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, and Sheila Jackson-Lee, Democrat of Texas, spoke about the need for young people to vote, and how their greater participation could have provided a different outcome in the disputed 2000 presidential election. Both received polite applause, but it was nothing compared to the near-hysterics that greeted Banks when he offered a brief, impromptu performance of his hit "On Fire." Just after Simmons spoke about how, through voting, people can change the world, some took this as an opportunity to slip him their mixtapes, because really what's more world-shaking -- voting for the next leader of the free world or scoring a record deal?

With everything Simmons and Combs have done, and plan to do between now and November, there's no way to tell if it will make any difference. Whether out of cynicism or indifference, many young people simply don't vote. In the 2000 presidential election, about 60 percent of all registered voters made it to the polls. Only 36 percent of 18-24 age voters did so, according to the nonpartisan Committee for the Study of the American Electorate.

Given the current state of this country and the world, it would seem that young people wouldn't need celebrities or cool T-shirts (including British clothing retailer French Connection's campaign, part of a partnership with Rock the Vote), to persuade them to vote. After 2000, can anyone ever again claim that every vote doesn't count?

With the economy fluttering, and war still raging in Iraq, if the prospects of unemployment or the potential return of a military draft can't compel young people to make themselves heard, I'm not sure what will. Perhaps the government should impose an expiration date on voting rights -- if someone fails to vote in any contest for two consecutive years, their rights are revoked. They would then have to apply for reinstatement as an American voter. Imagine the outrage a 24-year-old who has never voted would express if they were suddenly told they would not be allowed to vote.

Of course, such an act would never happen. In the meantime, all we can hope is that men like Simmons and Combs aren't using their powers in vain in trying to persuade young people to use their powers and vote.

Renee Graham's Life in the Pop Lane appears on Tuesdays. She can be reached at graham@globe .com