By Kassel Pierre-Jean
Students Against Injustice (SAI), a campus organization known for actively promoting different causes on campus, has headed up a bipartisan voter registration drive to alert 18 to 24-year-olds about the importance of voting.
Junior Hallie Caplan, head of the vote registration drive, believes University students need to be aware of the potential impact they could have.
“It only takes 30 seconds. You fill out your name, address, party affiliation, and you’re pretty much done,” Caplan said. “You don’t have to worry about postage because we mail it off for you.”
According to youthvote.org, 28 percent of 18 to 24 year-olds voted in the 2000 election-an election that Bush won by only 500,000 votes.
Dr. Rosanna Perotti, a professor in the political science department said that college students tend to be the demographic with the lowest voter turnout.
“The highest voter turnout for 18 to 24-year-olds was back in 1972. That demographic came out in drove and represented 49.6 percent of the vote,” she said “Back in Nov. 1998, an off-election year, the same demographic accounted for 15 percent of the vote, a record low. But voter turnout that year was 38 percent overall of registered voters.”
Junior finance major Amy Disbrow said she didn’t vote because she doesn’t believe it is necessary right now.
“I’m not concerned with any of the issues,” she said. “They don’t apply to me just yet.”
A continuing education student in the physician’s assistant program who didn’t want her name used thought voting was an important way for young people to get their voice heard.
“I vote for whatever candidate I think helps students the most,” she said. “Some of the issues that concern me most are abortion, women’s rights, and the economy-I want a job. Education is important too. We need financial aid.”
Caplan said that since SAI has begun the voter registration drive, they have received about 200 new registrants.
“I don’t think people knew it was this easy,” Caplan said. “Anybody can do it. And people from any state can register here with the exception of New Hampshire, North Dakota and Wyoming residents, who have restrictions.”
The College Republicans also had a table set up in the Student Center, trying to get supporters to sign up and voters to register.
Ned Murphy, chairman of the College Republicans said “Most members tend to be silent supporters because the University has a strong liberal presence.”
Bill Florio, a member of the College Republicans, went a step further in expressing his view on liberals.
“Liberalism tends to be based on emotion,” he said.
Kathleen Hunker, another member of the College Republicans, agreed.
“We want facts, not opinions,” she said.
Murphy pointed out, however, that Democrats and Republicans are all Americans.
“We’re all in this together. We have a president who is doing well in the war on terrorism and trying to stop it,” he said.
Murphy also expressed his disappointment with the panel discussions on Bush and the war last week.
“The panel discussions catered overwhelmingly to the left,” he said. “There were hardly any people with a conservative view. I think there needs to be a balance.”
Perotti suggested some theories as to why young voter turnout continues to decline.
“Students don’t own property or pay taxes in great amounts. However, this year, they have a big connection with the war,” she said. “Last election there was the difference of a 500,000 margin. This election is likely to be as close as it was in 2000. If 18 to 24 year olds came out in higher numbers, it’s possible they could make up to a quarter of the electorate.”
Perotti also said that Green Party candidate Ralph Nader had been popular among college students in the 2000 election, possibly because of “his stance on the environment.”
Nader won four percent among voters who earn less than $15,000 per year, according to Spoiling the Fight, a book on elections by Micah Sifry.
Nader also did better in states with large university populations. University students gave him16 percent of their votes in Massachusetts, 10 percent in Wisconsin, and eight percent in California. Overall, young people ages 18 to 24 accounted for five percent of Nader’s total vote, according to CNN exit polls.
Perotti quoted Sifry’s book, saying that Gore won 48 percent of the popular vote and Bush won 46 percent among voters 18 to 24 (with a margin of error of plus or minus three percent).
“I think people will realize that the stakes are high in this election,” Perotti said.
SAI will be running their voter registration drive through November.