Student Voter Apathy Continues

By Angela Vachon

Published October 22, 2004

The 2004 United States presidential election is heated already. The two major parties have had their conventions and thrown their jabs. “Kerry is wishy-washy” or “Bush didn’t serve in the war” are just a few examples of well-known criticisms. Voters are busy viewing issues from all angles and trying to analyze who is the better candidate. And they are doing it while dealing with negative ad campaigns and constant bickering between parties. Voting is not an easy task nowadays.

Alachua County Stats

As of August 18, 2004, there are 127,198 total voters in Alachua County. 43,485 are registered democrats and 30,931 are registered republicans. 42,005 are Caucasian men, 7,273 are African-American men, 48,414 are Caucasian women, and 11,959 are African-American women. The Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Office reports considerable differences in voting habits along lines of ethnicity and gender.

But aside from ethnicity and gender, there is one group that is vital to any election that is not mentioned by the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Office—the University of Florida student population. Do UF students vote?

UF Voting Registration

The UF campus is gearing up for the election with various groups supporting various candidates, and other groups simply trying to get students to vote. Either way, these groups are busy. ( University of Florida students that are not registered to vote can find information on UF’s ISIS website at http://www.isis.ufl.edu.)

Once students are registered, they can join organizations such as the College Republicans and College Democrats, and take part in the venture to “vote for the right person.” Turlington Plaza has tables labeled “Gators for Bush” and “Gators for Kerry” set up for information. These groups also encourage young people to vote, and have information handy on voting in general.

Some people argue that the most important thing is to get students to vote. Groups such as MTV’s “Rock the Vote” campaign, and the World Wrestling Entertainment’s voting campaign try to help in that regard. Both “Rock the Vote” and WWE stress student registration. On the UF campus, representatives of various groups similar to “Rock the Vote” and WWE stand in Turlington Plaza, handing out material encouraging students to register and to vote.

Chomp the Vote and Become Informed

Students become informed by reading newspapers and using other media forms. This article helps this student decide on certain amendments.

Also, UF Student Government is running a campaign this year called “Chomp the Vote.” This event brings different groups that promote voting together to bring attention to voter apathy among students.

Hunter Williams is a “Chomp the Vote” representative and president of the UF Chapter of the College Republicans. He says that “it does not really matter which party you join as long as you become an informed voter.” But he feels that the action of voting isn’t quite as important as being knowledgeable about the things being voted for. “Clearly, not enough young people vote, but a more important issue to be addressed is that not enough young people are informed and interested in the political process and the issues of the day. It’s nice to vote, but it’s important that your vote be informed as well.” He believes that too many young voters depend on their elders and their idols to mold their votes rather than creating their own viewpoints. “I think it’s a shame that some people think our generation is foolish enough to listen to rock stars and actors when they tell us who to vote for. I want to see young people get involved, but we need to inform ourselves and get involved and find our own way rather than accepting the ideas that our professors, parents, and the media feed us. They assume that we’ll accept what they hand us, but I like to think that we are all smarter than that and we will surprise them.”

However, many students are deciding against voting altogether, forgetting the “every vote counts” mantra the previous presidential election brought to focus so well. Why?

Women and the 2004 Vote

UF student and usually fervent democrat Heather Hamlin says she’s just not focused on the issues this year, and feels that she, as a woman, has very little place in the political scheme of things. “Until we elect a female president, I won’t feel right voting. I mean, if every vote counts and everybody is equal, then we should have had a female president a long time ago, because we have enough women in this country to elect one.”

Popular women’s magazines, such as Cosmopolitan, have written recent articles to try and stop voter apathy among women—especially younger women. In the October 2004 issue of Cosmopolitan, there is an article on why women should vote. It encourages women to look into the issues of reproduction, abortion, the environment, gender equality, and other such things before deciding whether or not to vote, or who to vote for. The magazine gives hyperlinks to websites encouraging women to vote, or websites examining issues pertaining to women. And, of course, it gives information on how to become a registered voter.

Kelly Mangan is the President of the UF Chapter of Campus National Organization for Women (NOW). She says it's high time women start voting more. “Campus NOW is trying to mobilize single women, never-been-married, divorced, widowed, and lesbian, to vote in the upcoming election, because single women are the largest demographic of progressive people that don't vote.” She says they go about their mobilization by teaching women facts on specific issues—similar to the way Cosmopolitan reaches out to women. “The way we're trying to turn out women voters at UF is by giving them the facts about the current administration's opposition to contraception. Since almost all of the women in this demographic use or have used birth control, we think that more women would vote if they knew that their access to it was at stake in the upcoming election.”

Reasons for Apathy

Some UF students say they do not want to vote after the last presidential election. In 2000, they interpreted the results to mean that they don’t really have a say in what happens- the Electoral College and its counterparts are the ones making the decisions. Students say they would feel better about the Electoral College’s voting if they actually chose who represents their state. Some students simply don’t even feel like registering because the issues aren’t important enough to them, or they just do not feel like analyzing things enough to make a fair vote. Their stance is that if you don’t vote, you can’t vote for the wrong person.

Every Vote Counts

Some students, on the other hand, are adamant about voting. 22-year-old Tony Grasso is one of these students. “I am voting because I am a Republican and this country is a democracy where our voices, as youth, need to be heard. My biggest issue is the military this year. John Kerry will only weaken it while President George Bush will continue to strengthen it.” Students like Tony feel they can make a difference.

Some students also feel that if the nation sees a steady difference between the popular vote and the Electoral College, people can rally together to try to change this system from how it is currently.

The Next Generation Is Ignored

Also, if students know their issues, they can realize the importance of the subject and of their vote. Hunter Williams strongly believes the younger generation is crucial to the future of this nation. He says if young people don’t inform themselves and start voting now, that these issues are going to continue being ignored. “It’s important that the issues of the next generation be addressed. For example, right now, because seniors vote in much larger numbers than young people, the benefits of people currently or soon to be enrolled in social security are being addressed while the interests of our generation, who will be forced to pay for the baby boomer generation’s entitlements, are completely ignored." Why? He says young people have made this a problem themselves. "Because our generation doesn’t vote in sufficient numbers, our concerns aren’t listened to.”

The biggest thing remaining is to get registered, informed, and vote, no matter who it is for.

Angela Vachon can be reached at: angiv117@ufl.edu