Student leaders hope to increase student turnout at the polls
By: Yusra Tekbali
Posted: 1/23/08
The Arizona Students' Association, the Associated Students of the
University of Arizona and Arizona Student Public Interest Research
Group will kick off their week long effort today to encourage students
to vote in the Arizona primary and national presidential elections.
Their goal is to increase the presence of young voters at the polls.
Volunteers will be encouraging students to sign their pledge to vote,
petition and participate in a practice poll, where students can vote
for their favorite candidate, said Christiana Mercer, campus organizer
for the UA chapter of Arizona PIRG.
Early ballot request forms will also be available for students to vote online, Mercer said.
Between 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. student volunteers on the UA Mall will tally
student votes on a board visual called "America's Next Top Model
Citizen," a play on the name of the popular TV show "America's Next Top
Model," said Communications Sophomore Christine Filer, an intern for
the UA's AZPIRG.
The poll will help gauge which presidential candidate is most popular among UA students, she said.
"While our goal is to get more youth and more students out there, we
are definitely most interested in representing the opinion of students
on our campus, " she said.
While the deadline for voting in the primary elections has passed, it's
still important for students to follow election coverage so that they
can make an informed opinion come election time in November,
Mercer said.
The Arizona Primaries will be held Feb. 5. The national presidential elections take place Nov. 4.
Arizona has 10 electoral votes and is considered a battleground state
by Democrats and Republicans. In the last presidential primary Arizona
voted Democrat and in 2000 Republican.
"If we don't vote, the youth demographic won't be taken into account
and politicians won't want to address our opinions and needs," Filer
said.
Sara Pat Badgley, a family studies junior, the second vice chair of the
Arizona Federation of College Republicans and former wire editor for
the Arizona Daily Wildcat, said students should take advantage of this
election in particular.
"This election is unprecedented as far as having no incumbents and no
real front runner," she said. "You have candidates from the far right
and left and we really get to choose what kind of Democrat or what kind
of Republican we want in office."
Ryan Burchell, a political science senior and president of the UA
chapter of Students for Barack Obama said it's a shame more of his
peers don't care about elections.
"It's unfortunate most students don't vote in primaries and don't
caucus. Arizona is playing a pivotal role in this primary, and all of
us should get out and vote."
© Copyright 2008 Arizona Daily Wildcat
