More college students ‘Rock the Vote’

By: Kayla Flynn
Posted In: News

The 2008 Presidential race is steadily gaining speed as the months go on and with Super Tuesday in the recent past this election may be looking for the youth vote more than ever.

Youth oriented television networks like MTV have been pushing the importance of registering and voting in the fall.

Campaigns geared toward youngsters, like Rock the Vote, which was founded in 1990, have in recent years gained popularity amongst the media.

Both youth oriented networks and these campaigns eagerly are trying to show young people that their vote not only matters but they can have the power to cause change.

Their efforts have been paying off.

According to a research poll conducted by Young Voters Strategies, which is a research and polling group affiliated with George Washington University, votes cast by 18-29 year olds in the 2000 election increased from 15.9 million to 20.1 million in 2004.

The rise in political interest occurring amongst the future of the nation can be seen on a more personal scale. The political buzz has hit Salve Regina and students were more than eager to talk about their political views when interviewed.

“I think a lot more people our age will vote this election as opposed to those who were our age in 2004,” said Benjamin Cote, a junior Cultural and Historical Preservation major.

Cote stated that he thinks the increased amount of press and emphasis put on voting nowadays will increase the number of youths who will actually participate.

A Salve Regina junior, Kristina Peterson has been registered and waiting for this election since she was 18.

“It was my 18th birthday present to myself,” said Peterson, a double major in Psychology and Spanish with a minor in Business Administration.

Peterson, 20, considers foreign policy her determining factor when it comes to whom she is going to vote for.

“Traveling to other countries really helps you see how your country is viewed from someone else’s perspective,” said Peterson who spent the fall semester in Argentina.

Recently this year Salve Regina became more political when the College Democrats made its way onto the list of on campus clubs. In an effort to get students more conscious about voting the club will be starting the “Get Out the Vote Campaign.”

“The College Democrats of all Rhode Island schools will be launching the campaign hopefully before the end of February. We will be handing out absentee ballots and forms to help get students registered.

There will be information about the candidates and we are just trying to help people learn why they should vote,” said Danielle Brazil, the clubs president and junior double major in Psychology and Politics with a minor in American Government.

” I just think that it is really important to get the word out to young people,” said Brazil. ” We are the ones fighting this war and future wars. We are the one’s who will be in control in the future. And also it is important to have a vested interest in one’s own country before you can understand and go over to other countries.”

It is becoming quite evident that young people not only of the nation but also on one’s own campus want to learn more about the issues and candidates at hand.

They are making a giant effort to actively participate in the future of their country. And according to Brazil the only people who can complain when it is all over are the people who actually remember to fill out a ballot.