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PAST ISSUES

Candidates have a new issue to tackle: voter apathy

by Renee Hamann
Exchange Staff

     Politicians worried about education, improving roads, controlling taxes, and managing violence have a new subject to be concerned about: voter apathy.

     In Boston's most recent election, only 13.6 percent of registered voters cast their vote for the City's council members. Now politicians need to look at why there is such little interest in Boston's governing just one year after a gubernatorial turnout. Last year, so many voters came out to cast their votes that there weren't enough ballots, according to Secretary of State William F. Galvin.

     Students at Franklin Pierce have mixed responses. Of seven people interviewed, four were registered. Two were registered as part of a government class in high school, one was persuaded by his mother, and the last had a strong desire to vote.

     Junior Ashley Saari believes that high schools stressed the importance of voting because of the attacks on September 11, 2001.

     "In high school, [teachers] really stressed the importance to vote even though we weren't even old enough to register," Saari said. "In college, I don't really feel like it's stressed as much."

      Three of the four registered students had already voted in presidential elections. Six of the students interviewed expressed a desire to vote in presidential elections.

     Senior Zach Weight, president of the Pierce Democrats, voted for Senator John Kerry in the 2004 elections. "I thought the country needed a new course and a new leader," he said. But voter apathy also played a role in his decision. "I felt the burden of having to vote, since I'm a member of the most apathetic generation in American history."

     Only two of the seven expressed interest in local elections. Senior Sean Doyle, vice president of the Pierce Democrats, participates in his local elections. "If anyone was doing any pressuring to vote, it was me to my friends and family," Doyle said.

     What would make college students interested in voting for local elections? Junior Catie Reilly, an unregistered voter who plans on participating in the next presidential elections, said she would be more interested in local issues if she saw the impact of her involvement.

     "I just have confidence that the town committee is getting their work done," Reilly said. "If I saw the effects of voting or not voting, or if I saw the politicians in action, I would be more interested in local elections."

     Junior Josh Brown argued that being away at college makes it unnecessary to vote in his hometown. "I don't know what's happening in my city when I'm at school," Brown said. "Maybe I'd get involved if I was at home."

     Doyle said, "Local and state elections should be the most important since they directly revolve around your community."

     Weight has an idea why there seems to be widespread apathy among this generation. "No candidate has had the success of getting across a good message. People don't understand that those in power locally can be corrupted and limit our rights just as easily as those we elect nationally," he said.

     All seven of interviewees said that their parents were registered and actively voted in presidential and sometimes local elections. That suggests that there are other things to blame for lack of student involvement.

     The candidates have a lot on their plate if Boston is a template for other local governments. Galvin said, "This is a very disturbing and discouraging turnout...It's a lack of a campaign and a lack of inspiring messages."