by Sydney Mountzouris
EASTON- Voting can be pretty tricky for students in college, especially those who are living in a dorm. While some students only live 10 minutes away from home, others live 10 states away.
A large contributing factor to the low voter turnout is that some students are not registered to vote. Nineteen-year-old Stonehill College student Eliza Motlin is one of them. “I am not very involved in politics at this point in my life and I haven’t put much thought into registering to vote.”
Although she does know what she would do if she were to vote.
“I would get an absentee ballot,” she said “ I am not familiar with the process of early voting and I wouldn't want to inconvenience my mom for driving me to the polls from my school.”
Zachary Henry, 19 year old college student, plans on voting. “I plan on voting in this election because some people in other countries do not have the right to vote.”
He lives 20 minutes away from home and plans on going home to vote.
“I live so close, filling out all of the paperwork for an absentee ballot would not be necessary, although if I do not have a ride, I unfortunately will not be able to vote.”
Although he lives close to his school, transportation is playing a role in whether or not he can vote.
Obtaining an absentee ballot may not be a priority when a student's focus is on homework, exams clubs and sports. “Getting an absentee ballot slipped my mind during the stress of midterms week and going home to vote is not an option, I live three hours away from my designated polling area,” Emily Savage, nineteen-year-old Stonehill College student said.
Some students are well prepared and were ready to vote prior to election day.
“It is an important right that we all have as American Citizens.” She began the voting process before she left for school, “Before leaving for DC I registered for an absentee ballot, I already voted!” American University student, Nicole Alzapiedi said.
Matt Snow, twenty year old student at Elon University, has been voting in every election since he turned eighteen.
“I care so much about the future of America and I have always cared about politics. I have voted by using both an absentee and early voting, since I go to school in North Carolina, it all depends on my location around election time,” Snow said.
Massachusetts now offers “early voting,” an alternative to an absentee ballot. “I am going home to participate in early voting,” Nicole Beaulieu a student at Emerson College said.
She said she feels obligated to vote. “If the outcome is not what I want, at least I want to say I tried,” she said.
College student Elizabeth Cronin also feels this way. “Now that I am old enough, I want to exercise my right to vote. I actually want to have a say in what happens.”
States offer three ways of alternative voting than going to the polls, early voting, absentee voting and mail voting. All states offer an absentee ballot, which is an option for all citizens. In some states, an excuse, such as , being away at school is required. In 37 states, early voting is an option, any registered voter can qualify to vote during a period of time prior to the election with no justification or excused. Mail voting is only offered in Colorado, Washington and Oregon which is when a ballot is automatically mailed to every eligible voter.
Although there are many options available, youth voter turnout is not as high when compared to the national average of 60 percent for presidential election years and 40 percent for midterm elections. CIRCLE, the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement collected data on youth voting in America. During the last presidential election in 2012, 45 percent of young people, ages 18-29, voted in 2012, down from 51percent in 2008. As for midterm elections in 2014, 19.9 percent of 18- to 29-years old cast ballots in the 2014 elections, which was the lowest youth turnout rate ever recorded in a federal election.
Plattsburg, New York’s Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie has insight on voting in his county. In New York State, has a total of 62 counties, each has its own Board of Elections Office, which where all voting issues on the State and Local elections are dealt with. The voting laws in New York State are that the voter must vote in their resident County or obtain an Absentee Ballot, if they will be absent from their resident county on November 8, 2016.
Wylie said he has “seen a slight increase in younger people becoming more active/involved in politics and political campaigns” over the past six years. He said that this “involvement consists of enrolling in a party as well as participating in campaigns for particular candidates. I have also seen, in the Democratic Party, younger candidates, twenty five– thirty five year olds, becoming involved in running for office.”
The CIRCLE data also showed that many of the younger voters more liberally and their ideas align with those of the democrat party.
“Being able to cast your vote in a national or local election is one way young adults can express their viewpoints,” Wylie said.
“Becoming involved in politics at any level is very positive because it allows one to express their positions, whether right or wrong, in such a public forum,” he said.
Wylie said that the Clinton County Board of Elections Commissioner “has not seen an increase in young adults registering to vote this year.”
Wylie found this very surprising because “watching the presidential debates as well as all of the campaigning throughout the past year, I noticed the increase involvement of younger potential voters participation.”
Wylie said that the Board of Elections Commissioner confirmed that because of the SUNY College in Plattsburgh, “that consistent amount of non-Clinton county students that vote have been coming in to obtain information on obtaining an Absentee Ballots to cast their vote because they will be in school in Plattsburgh, away from their home county, on November 8.”
Wylie also reports that, according the the Board of Elections Commissioner, “each year, especially a presidential year, the college students arrive at the college polling location, expecting to vote, not knowing that they can not vote in Plattsburgh because they are not a Clinton County resident.”
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