The Griffon News

Despite the democratic process and the right to vote being central to our constitutional rights, many choose not to participate and exercise their rights for a multitude of reasons.

In the presidential election of 2004 the overall number of voters reached 126 million, which amounted to a total of only 58 percent of the voting age population. 

What appears to be dismal voting rates, actually reflects a record high turnout for the second consecutive presidential election, 15 million more voters then the elections of 2000.

However in college aged voters according to the U.S. Census Bureau, of the voting population of 27,808 voters aged 18- 29, only 11,639 participated in casting a vote.

“A population that doesn’t vote doesn’t get a response from government. It’s extremely important for a college student to vote if they ever want any input in the system,” Dr. Dan Cox, assistant professor of government said.

Despite having as a group the lowest voting and registration rates in the elections of 2004, the group experienced the largest increase in both rates of all voting age groups since the 2000 presidential election.

According to the Center of Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement the Missouri youth turnout rate was 52 percent and ranked 16 of all states in voters aged 18 to 29 among all states in 2004. As a state, Missouri ranked eleventh nationally in youth voting.

Many students reject participating in the democratic process because of a belief that their vote will not make a difference. Of the 142 million non-voters polled by the U.S. Census Bureau, 11 percent chose not to vote because, “They were not interested or felt that their vote would not make difference.” There is also a certain belief that politicians simply are unconcerned with what the youth vote thinks.

With presidential races as tight as the election between Gore and Bush in 2000, every vote counts and politicians are willing to cater to citizens that will vote.

“Politicians have a limited amount of resources and if a campaign can’t find a new block of voters to sway they’ll just stop. The college voting rates are so low, so anemic, that there’s really no reason to go after them,” said Dr.Cox.

Hot topic issues like the War on Terror, the state of the economy, and college funding are popular platform issues,  and it is vital that a population that would so closely feel the implications of change must cast a vote and represent their own interests.

“The first thing a government will cut, and we’re going into a recession, is education. They really go after college education because they feel it’s safe. They don’t have a big group against them and it’s largely because they don’t vote.”

In the end, it is the voter’s responsibility to exercise their rights, and represent their own interests. The only avenue to change is participation.

“It’s apathy and ignorance,” Dr.Cox said.  “A lot of times a student says their vote doesn’t count, which is true right now because so few students vote. If a wide swathe of students vote, you would see candidates coming after them.”