- Home >
- Top Stories
Get out and vote Tuesday
November 02, 2007
Think about the last state governor’s race. It was decided by 133 votes. Or the 2000 presidential election, decided by hanging chads in Florida. Four years later, George Bush’s re-election was secured by a handful of disputed votes in Ohio.
PLU’s student leaders hope the importance of every vote will sink in with students Tuesday, when Washington holds its general election. Granted, there won’t be any jazzy presidential or gubernatorial candidates on the ballots. Instead, there will be the hometown issues of mayors, school boards and a few big-ticket items, such as Proposition 1, which will put billions into the region’s transit system.
“I think it’s important to make the effort to vote,” said ASPLU president Carl Pierce. “If you look back historically, like to our parents’ generation, this was an age group that made a substantial difference in policy and decisions in the country.”
Turnout for the 18-24 year old demographic – representing 8 percent of the registered voters here – has been strong in Washington state during presidential years, coming in at 60 percent. On a national level, however, the turnout for presidential elections hovers at 30 percent for the same age group, according to 2006 U.S. census statistics.
“That could be that students don’t have a rallying issue, like Vietnam,” Pierce said.
But there are still plenty of issues out there that need a voice, be it Iraq, poverty or health care, he said.
Mary Johnson, vice president of PLU’s GOP Club, said she always tries to vote and remembers her parents making a point to vote, whether it was a primary or general election. If stopping to vote meant McDonald’s for dinner that night, so be it, she recalled.
Johnson’s first crack at the voting booth was in 2006, when she turned 18.
“I remember there was something stupid on the ballot, like whether fireworks should be banned in Renton,” she laughed.
Samantha Tolbert, president of PLU’s Democratic club, is seeing first-hand how getting out the vote, especially among college students, is critical. This fall, Tolbert is working on the Proposition 1 campaign, which aims to pour $18 billion into the region’s transit system. Critics say the measure is a waste of money; proponents say it’s the region’s last best shot at having a transportation system that works. She knows the vote on the issue will be close, which is why she’s volunteering at a phone bank three times a week.
Tolbert encourages students to do what she does: Vote absentee and once the ballot arrives, sit down and fill it out immediately.
“Otherwise, it becomes lost in among all the other stuff on my kitchen table,” she said.
Then there’s the final argument to vote. If you don’t, you don’t have the right to whine about the outcome, Pierce noted.
“I think that if you choose to opt out of voting, in my mind you’ve chosen to silence your voice,” he said. “And no amount of complaining is going to bring back that opportunity to make your voice heard.”
University Communications staff writer Barbara Clements compiled this report. Comments, questions, ideas? Please contact her at ext. 7427 or at clemenba@plu.edu. Photo by University Photographer Jordan Hartman.
“I think it’s important to make the effort to vote,” said ASPLU president Carl Pierce. “If you look back historically, like to our parents’ generation, this was an age group that made a substantial difference in policy and decisions in the country.”
Turnout for the 18-24 year old demographic – representing 8 percent of the registered voters here – has been strong in Washington state during presidential years, coming in at 60 percent. On a national level, however, the turnout for presidential elections hovers at 30 percent for the same age group, according to 2006 U.S. census statistics.
“That could be that students don’t have a rallying issue, like Vietnam,” Pierce said.
But there are still plenty of issues out there that need a voice, be it Iraq, poverty or health care, he said.
Mary Johnson, vice president of PLU’s GOP Club, said she always tries to vote and remembers her parents making a point to vote, whether it was a primary or general election. If stopping to vote meant McDonald’s for dinner that night, so be it, she recalled.
Johnson’s first crack at the voting booth was in 2006, when she turned 18.
“I remember there was something stupid on the ballot, like whether fireworks should be banned in Renton,” she laughed.
Samantha Tolbert, president of PLU’s Democratic club, is seeing first-hand how getting out the vote, especially among college students, is critical. This fall, Tolbert is working on the Proposition 1 campaign, which aims to pour $18 billion into the region’s transit system. Critics say the measure is a waste of money; proponents say it’s the region’s last best shot at having a transportation system that works. She knows the vote on the issue will be close, which is why she’s volunteering at a phone bank three times a week.
Tolbert encourages students to do what she does: Vote absentee and once the ballot arrives, sit down and fill it out immediately.
“Otherwise, it becomes lost in among all the other stuff on my kitchen table,” she said.
Then there’s the final argument to vote. If you don’t, you don’t have the right to whine about the outcome, Pierce noted.
“I think that if you choose to opt out of voting, in my mind you’ve chosen to silence your voice,” he said. “And no amount of complaining is going to bring back that opportunity to make your voice heard.”
University Communications staff writer Barbara Clements compiled this report. Comments, questions, ideas? Please contact her at ext. 7427 or at clemenba@plu.edu. Photo by University Photographer Jordan Hartman.