Increased Youth Voter Turnout in Primaries!!

The youth are voting! This year, youth are coming out from all over and casting their ballot in the primaries around the country. For example, in the democratic primaries Obama won the votes of 76 percent of Virginia Democrats under age 30 and 64 percent in Maryland. In both states, he did better than Clinton in nearly every age group, although Clinton had stronger support among older voters. Why is this the year for such a high turnout? Well after discussing the issue with my peers I realized that one reason is because of who is running. Obama, for example, came to the University of Maryland on February 12th. Thousands of students, including myself, waited in frigid weather for over an hour and a half to hear his 40 minute speech. The enthusiasm inside the Comcast Center was remarkable. Even my friends who vote republican were there to support him. This is why so many college students came out on Tuesday – because they finally found a candidate they believe in and can place their trust in. Many of the issues Obama discussed had to do with us – like increasing the minimum wage and ensuring ample employment opportunities post graduation - of course we would respond to that with much fervor…

But there has to be more – this is only what I’ve gathered at UMD…

According to CIRCLE stats, youth voter turnout increased in almost all of the states apart of "Super Tuesday”. This time around, candidates are really reaching out to our population. In fact, four of the main contenders, Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Huckabee, have sections on their campaign website directed at youth voters. Also, with applications on Facebook and MySpace, candidates are logging online to campaign.

With so many young people voting, we may have the power to take control of the election. The high turnout in the primaries is a good indicator of what could happen on November 4th. This is huge. The fact that our age group could select the next president is thrilling.

Going back to UMD, the voting process was improved upon this time. Instead of 4 machines, there were 12 voting machines at Ritchie Coliseum for 2,211 registered voters, and 15 units for the 2,837 assigned to Stamp. Students had to wait in line, but many were impressed with the improvement in efficiency. I even talked to some students who were in and out in less than 10 minutes. The University is taking the rights steps to encourage our students to vote. Small things, such as more voting machines, to big events like Obama, Huckabee, and Chelsea Clinton coming to campus, are attempted efforts to get students rallied up. Just the visible improvement from November 2007 provides our team with hope – and we are there to fill in the rest!

Happy Primaries!

-alka