Just do it!

Sean Combs is to be commended for his efforts to get more young people to vote.

American entertainers have been taking a lot of heat, often justifiably, for their politically correct and incorrect comments and activities. But whether one approves or disapproves of the other activities of Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, he deserves credit for one of his latest projects.

Combs has launched a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization called “Citizen Change.” It is designed to get out the youth vote for the 2004 presidential election.

“As Citizen Combs, I’ve got one vote, and I need to know which candidate represents me and my concerns,” says Combs.

His campaign includes a national tour with special events in cities and on college campuses, partnerships with MTV, BET and other media, and creation of a “Vote or Die!” T-shirt line. Along with MTV News, Combs attended the Democratic National Convention and will be at the Republican National Convention. He will film a “Choose or Lose” special for the music channel featuring interviews with young people in New York.

Combs has his personal views on politics and politicians, but he also seems to have a sense of civic responsibility about getting young people more involved in the process. He says he plans to keep the campaign nonpartisan. If he can manage to do that and draw into the voting booths thousands of youngsters, more power to him.

Locally, this election season has seen other encouraging signs of activism intended to boost turnout.

Canvassers have been working downtown crowds, going door to door — even helping the homeless do the simple paperwork necessary to cast a vote.

But just being registered is not enough.

American election totals are often embarrassing because so many eligible voters never go to the polls. Even in our most hotly contested presidential years, voter turnouts beyond 60 percent are rare.

Last week, state election officials predicted a disappointing 27 percent of the state’s registered voters would cast ballots in Tuesday’s primary. That’s despite several hotly contested races and a list of social issues, such as legislators’ failure to approved a proposed amendment to the state constitution to ban gay marriage, raising interest.

Seldom has there been an election year that calls for maximum participation more than this one does. We can only hope that projects like those by Sean Combs and others will get more citizens involved.