Student voters overwhelm poll site at CSULB

 

By Sean Orfila
Online Forty-Niner
Staff Writer

The vote was rocked. Students voted yesterday at the first polling place at Cal State Long Beach in the school's history. The polls, staffed entirely by students, were packed during all open hours.

"It's been full since eight o'clock," said Kim Hinckson, an ASI government adviser who was working the polls.

There were five polling stations and a line extending down the bridge of the Student Union all day. Poll workers were excited to see the line of students waiting to vote.

John Kerry won California, taking the largest chunk of electoral votes in the election. According to the AP, young voters, age 18-29, supported Kerry by a 3-2 margin. In 2000, about half of the youngest voters favored Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore.

Student involvement in the polling process was unprecedented. Hinckson said that ASI recruited 900 students from the political science department to work the polls. Stipends of $55 were provided, along with extra credit from some professors and a day enjoyed outside of classrooms.

"This is a trial run," Hinckson said.

Zahra Billoo, of ASI government affairs, said that in the past, students were forced to vote outside the precinct in surrounding neighborhoods. That was before Billoo and other ASI representatives spearheaded an effort to host a polling station at CSULB. After jumping through the bureaucratic hoops and nabbing a $25,000 federal grant to pay poll workers, the day had finally come.

If it weren't for the on-campus polling station, it may have meant a lot less students turning out to vote Billoo said. Inspiration came to Billoo when she saw that UCLA had numerous polling places on campus. Billoo said that CSULB should have just as many, considering that the school is the second largest campus in California.

According to the AP, the number of young voters rose since the last presidential election — in 2000, about one in seven voters were 18-29-years-old. This year, more than one in five voters were in that age group.

"We've set a precedent for the future years," said ASI President Mike Johnson. The turnout was cause for the school to acquire two poll sites for future elections, Johnson said. He also said that this election would serve as an example to other schools in the CSU system.

"It's so encouraging to see our students lined up outside like that," Johnson said. "It's inspiring."

The longest wait that Billoo heard about was two hours and 20 minutes. One of the students waiting in line was Seth Draine, a 20-year-old sophomore business major. Draine brought his dinner to eat while he waited in line. "I felt like I was duked by Bush and was taken advantage of. [My voting] is saying I'm not one to be duked," Draine said between bites of beef and broccoli over fried rice.

Jason Bonzon, a 19-year-old, junior philosophy major said he was voting because he is tired of low voter turnout among young voters and of politicians not targeting the college age group.

Another reason, he said, was to cast a vote on the stem cell research proposition for scientific and moral reasons.

At the end of the night, poll workers shook the ballot box to make room for more ballots. The box was stuffed. Billoo said that there were 1,200-1,400 people listed for the poll site in the morning. She said at least 600 people had voted provisionally.

She was out of breath as polls closed, "you feel like you've made a difference," Billoo said.

Sonya Smith contributed to this report.