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news
Leaders urge youth
to cast their ballots
By Jeanne Hoffa
On-line Forty-Niner
One out of every
three people ages 18 to 24 voted in 1996 - a figure that dropped
to one in four by 1998. Even fewer showed up for last year's
election.
The red-hot presidential
race that was supposed to pry a record number of voters from
their couches inspired one in five young adults to drive to
their local polling center.
The likelihood
that a young person will vote has dwindled over the past 20
years, according to Secretary of State Affairs Miles Nevin,
who represents Cal State Long Beach students in the California
State Student's Association in Sacramento.
While fewer young
adults vote, greater numbers, 49 percent, volunteer for community
service or charity work, according to a Student's Needs and
Priorities Survey given by the Chancellor's Office.
The fear among
student leaders is the growth of a generation of lifelong
bystanders to the political process, Nevin said. Past surveys
indicate that people who do not participate in elections when
they are young are unlikely to do so as they grow older.
Young adults said
in surveys they do not vote because politicians do not address
their concerns - the single most common reason given in surveys
across the political and economic spectrum for not voting.
Student representatives
throughout the state, including CSULB, have devised a plan
to re-engage this emerging segment of the population in an
attempt to curtail the trend.
Nevin is urging
the campus to support the California Youth Vote Platform,
a non-partisan resolution that aims to persuade emerging voters
into the political realm. The supporters have specific plans
they want to implement:
• Organize
a televised gubernatorial debate between next year's candidates
and young people.
• Pass an
initiative to allow Californians to register and vote on Election
Day. Voting rates in the seven states that have already implemented
same-day registration and voting are higher than in those
that do not.
• Supply incoming
students with voter registration forms, already a law under
the Federal Higher Education Act. Publicly funded universities
are asked to aggressively and creatively implement the law.
• Provide
high school and college students a wealth of opportunities
for hands-on civic participation through the curriculum.
The California
Youth Vote Coalition includes 1,500 organizations working
to increase the political involvement of 50 million Americans
18 to 30 years old. A few of its funding members include the
League of Women Voters, the National Council of La Raza and
the U.S. Student's Association.
CSULB senators
and representatives will vote on whether the university will
join thousands of other organizations who offer support of
the resolution at Wednesday's Associated Student Inc. meeting.
All University
of California representatives already endorsed the platform,
Nevin said, as well as all community colleges. The California
State University representative will vote at the California
State Student Association at Cal State Chico Oct. 14.
Perhaps reversing
the trend is student Mary Nassar, who voted in the last election.
"If you don't
vote, you don't have room to complain," the 21-year old
political science major said. "My parents didn't vote,
and all they do is complain. I tell them they'd better vote,
or they can't complain."
Vivian Dinh, who
is working on a computer science degree said she was too busy
to vote during the last election.
"I didn't
have time," the 22-year-old Dinh said.
Al Gore and George
Bush were asked during last October's presidential debates
how they will address young people who feel disengaged from
politics.
"Some times
people who are very idealistic, and have great dreams, as
young people do, are apt to stay at arm's length from the
political process -- because they think their good hearts
might be brittle," Gore said. "if they invest their
hopes and allow themselves to believe, then they are going
to be let down and disappointed. Thank goodness we've always
had enough people who have been willing to push past the fear
of a broken heart and become deeply involved."
Bush said pushing
aside partisan differences would help.
"Medicare
is relevant for all of us, young and old alike. We better
get it right now. Tax reform is relevant for old and young
alike. I don't think it's the issues that turn kids off. I
think it's the tone."
Every candidate
in the 2000 election ? Democrats Vice President Gore and Bill
Bradley D-N.J., Republicans Senator John McCain R-Az., Senator
Orrin Hatch R-Ut., and Steve Forbes and the Green Party's
Ralph Nader ? committed to the campaign's invitation to the
Youth Presidential Debate ? except for then-Governor Bush.
Individuals who
wish to affect the campus vote for support or non-support
of the resolution may come to Wednesday's A.S.I. meeting in
the Senate Chambers of the USU ? Room 217 at 3:30 p.m.
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