Larger number of students flock to polls

48 percent of Generation Xers made their voices heard in last Tuesday's elections

By Emily Nash, On-Line Forty-Niner

Monday, November 9, 1998

Disproving the myth that the current national crop of college

students are apathetic Generation Xers who do not vote, college students turned out to vote on Tuesday in larger numbers than other groups.

According to the National Student Campaign for Voter Registration, this year 72 percent of all college students registered to vote, yet only 64 percent of the general population is registered to vote.

Only 37 percent of the general population voted this election, compared to 48 percent of registered students.

Notably, 80 percent of the students who did vote said the events of Monica Lewinsky and President Bill Clinton did not affect their vote, the NSCVR said.

"I am not a Democrat," said Sarah Velasquez, a junior, a

political science major at Cal State Long Beach. "I think if I was [a Democrat] the Lewinsky scandal might have influenced my vote."

While it is difficult to tally up voter participation at a commuter college like CSULB, Dr. Stuart Farber, director of student life and development, estimated out of the 2,000 dorm residents, 300 utilized the free shuttle bus to transport the residents to the local poling booths Tuesday.

"I think the college age student is more receptive to politics

today," said Farber.

Farber said he believes at least 30 percent of all CSULB students voted, according to a survey he took Tuesday of more than 60 students.

Another reason it is difficult to measure voter participation on campus stems from the large number of exchange students on campus who are not citizens, Farber said.

"I would have loved to have voted," said junior Frank Tsai, a criminal justice major at CSULB, "but I am not a citizen."