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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels September 29, 2004 A call to vote By Bill Choy Ashland Daily Tidings Wearing a bright red shirt with "voter registration" written on the back, Southern Oregon University student Christa Brice was attempting to sign people up to register to vote at the university on Tuesday. Volunteer Savanna Koole works Tuesday to help register Southern Oregon University students to vote. Photos by Denise Baratta | Ashland Daily Tidings Only a day before, she was an unregistered voter herself. "I've been really unhappy with Bush and I decided I really needed to register myself to vote," said Brice, 24, a junior from Portland. After registering to vote, she decided to volunteer to encourage other students to register. "I thought it was important for students to register and get our say," she said. "There are issues and races up this year that affect us and we need to get our voices out and vote." Brice and other volunteers are part of the 2004 Student Vote Coalition, a nonpartisan alliance sponsored by Associated Students of Southern Oregon University (ASSOU), the Oregon Student Association, the New Voters Project, and the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG). Get out the vote The goal is to register 2,000 young adults in the community, said Gina Lutz, campus organizer for OSPIRG. The statewide effort has a target of registering 30,000 students in Oregon. At SOU, volunteers have gone to an SOU football game, set up in front of the student union on a daily basis, and were there when students arrived on campus last week for student orientation. Student senator Sergio Larios, 23 - another coalition volunteer - said he enjoyed encouraging new students to vote when they first arrived on campus. "Many of them really seemed interested and were excited to register to vote," he said. "And it was cool because there were some kids getting on their parents to register to vote." On Friday, the coalition will participate in a voter registration drive downtown, and a Rock the Vote music festival beside the football stadium on Oct. 9. Young voters in decline For many years, national trends have shown a steady decline in younger people voting. In the 2000 election, only 36 percent of 18-24 year olds turned out to vote, according to the student vote coalition. In the 2000 Presidential Elections, only half of Oregon's eligible students voted. "It's always a problem in our age group," Lutz said. "I would say one reason is that politicians are not paying attention to this age group, so many are not voting. It's a bad cycle." Bill Hughes, associate professor of political science at SOU, believes a key reason for voter apathy in many college-age students is a lack of connection with a political party, an issue, or a community. Among a large percent of this age group, he said the majority of young adults are figuring out their own life directions and experiences, and are focused on themselves and not the world at large. But it normally changes as they gets older, start to raise a family, and have ties to a community or an issue, he said. "It's great to see any type of political mobilization on campus," he said. "Seeing a collective action is a positive thing." So far, more than 430 people have registered to vote, which was about where the coalition had hoped for up to this point, Lutz said. She said many people were registering for the first time, and that many said they were already registered. "It's looking quite encouraging so far," Lutz said. "It's great to see so many students volunteering. It's about students registering students � It's someone your age that can speak to you about issues and things you care about." Senior Tasha Chicovsky, 21, already is registered and was pleased there is a push on campus to encourage students to vote. "I think it's great because I think it's important for everyone to vote," she said. "I think a lot of people are concerned about (the presidential election) and want a change." Lutz said people like the fact the coalition is nonpartisan and is just encouraging voter registration and not a particular issue or candidate. "We're focusing on college students and encouraging them to express their voices by voting and not "vote for that person,"' she said. Lutz said just because someone is registered does not mean they will actually vote. One way to encourage students to vote is having volunteers collect pledge cards for people to sign. Before the election, volunteers will call those who sign up to make sure they have voted. There will also be coalition volunteers out around campus and community setting up voter drop off boxes. "It's not enough to register to vote," Lutz said. "You need to vote, It's easy, especially in Oregon. All they have to do is put a stamp on their ballots and send it off." DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams