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Great, and not-so-great, expectations Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Rogue Valley Manor resident Harris Dalbec, 81, left, has never missed voting in an election. Bill Glaser, right, Democratic precinct committeeman at the manor, attributes the manor�s high turnout rate � the highest in the county � to the residents� involvement in activities and interest in the world. Rogue Valley Manor has the best voting history in the county. SOUhas the worst. That�s unlikely to change much on Tuesday, and the reasons go beyond the obvious. By Dani Dodge It is the best of voting records, it is the worst of voting records: Rogue Valley Manor and Southern Oregon University. Their populations lie on opposite ends of life�s spectrum. So do their voting registration and turnout rates � the highest and lowest in Jackson County. Therein lies the tale of two precincts. "At the manor, they know the issues and vote ... I would bet their turnout is among the highest in the state," said Cathy Shaw, Ashland�s mayor and author of a book about local campaigning. Shaw recently recommended that people working to get out the vote for a Phoenix-Talent school bond not even call manor residents, "because you don�t need to activate them. Not only will they vote, but they�ll vote for schools." "Compare that to the university," Shaw said. "It has the worst voter turnout in the entire state of Oregon." Even so, get-out-the-vote volunteers should leave the university off their call lists as well, Shaw said. "It doesn�t pay to spend your time there; you can�t turn out enough people to vote," Shaw said. "My guess is the only way to activate them is to have their own people in there activating them." Southern Oregon University is located on a 175-acre campus in the heart of Ashland. About 5,800 students attend the school, which specializes in liberal arts, business and the sciences; 960 live in dormitories that make up almost all of Precinct 10. The Rogue Valley Manor is a retirement community with residential options ranging from independent living in cottages to continual care in a hospital-like setting. It is located on a 350-acre campus atop Barneburg Hill, where its 912 residents have a 360-degree view of the Rogue Valley and their own golf course. The manor encompasses all of Precinct 61. The difference in voter turnout between the two campuses could be easily attributed to age. But that would be simplifying things too much, according to political scientists, students and retirees. The difference seems to stem from a complex brew of experience, sense of community, free time, feeling of responsibility and stubborn habit. "I was the only man in my whole outfit overseas (during World War II) who voted," said Harris Dalbec, an 81-year-old retired teacher who lives at the manor. "I had to have an absentee ballot and have an officer witness it, but I did it." Like many people at the manor, Dalbec keeps busy. He spent Friday morning knitting caps for premature infants in the manor�s crafts room. He wasn�t worrying about filling out the state�s longest ballot: He finished his up and mailed it out a few days after it arrived in the mail. "I�ve never missed a vote," Dalbec said, with a firm nod of his head and toss of a tiny pompom. "If we don�t vote, we get people like Bill Clinton." But the inclination to cast a ballot isn�t quite so ingrained just 12 miles away at SOU. Libby Cure, a 20-year-old business major, registered to vote in Jackson County in 1998. But she didn�t bother to go to the polls that year. "I was from Washington County, and I really didn�t care about the things on the ballot here," she said, pushing bits of burrito around her plate in the dorm�s cafeteria. "I didn�t know the people here. It wouldn�t have been fair to vote." This year, though, she was looking forward to the chance to cast her first ballot. "There�s a lot of things to do with tuition and the Supreme Court that will affect my life for the next 30 years," Cure said. "But I never got my ballot." She said she may go to the county clerk�s office to pick up a ballot. But then again, she doesn�t know when she�ll have the time. "And I don�t have a car," Cure said. Don Laws, a SOU political science professor since 1968 and an Ashland councilman, said several factors contribute to the voting records of these two distinct precincts. First and most obvious: age. "Polls have been taken and other records kept, and every one shows older people vote more than young," he said. College-aged students normally don�t have a feeling of permanent belonging: They are in transition. They are partying. Figuring out what they want for their lives. Choosing life partners. With all that and trying to get through school, their time is limited and their priorities aren�t focused on choosing a state senator. "They don�t have the tie-in to the community at any level that gives them the drive to vote," Laws said. "Virtually none of those who live in Precinct 10 will live here after they get out of school." The other difference is generational, Laws said. "In the �30s, �40s and �50s, people believed voting was a required part of being an American," Laws said. Youthful activism peaked in the late �60s because with the Vietnam War, students believed their lives were at stake; but it didn�t translate into the same commitment to voting of earlier decades. Voting rates among youth continued to decline through the �90s, though Laws said he sees some signs that interest may be picking up slightly. Contributing to the manor residents� commitment to voting: high socio-economic status. The manor is costly to buy into, and most who live there are educated people who were leaders in their communities. "They feel they can have an effect on things," Laws said. "They can communicate well and interact with people ... and feel that they can affect the political system." Bill Glaser, a 79-year-old retired clinical psychologist, is the Democratic precinct committeeman at the manor. He believes it�s much more than age or generation or even socio-economic status that fuels the voting rates at the manor. "The residents have a high level of activity and a high level of interest in the world," Glaser said. For instance, the manor�s one-day-a-week respite center for partners of Alzheimer�s sufferers often has so many volunteers there is one-on-one attention for the clients. A weekly tutorial by SOU professors occurs each week in a classroom off the main lobby. On Friday, more than 60 people attended the morning seminar. Bev Bennett, 75, a former SOU professor and current manor resident, is part of a tap dancing group at the manor. She summed up the difference between the seniors and the students this way: "We�re more mature, and we want to go out in style with the best people in office." In past years, though, the manor had polling places in the lobby on election day. With this year�s vote-by-mail election, some quietly worry that voter rates may decrease � especially since there�s no drop box on the property. And, unlike the university � where brightly colored get-out-the-vote banners plaster walls � there�s no election fever in the air at the manor. Residents aren�t allowed to have lawn signs or even put up posters in their windows. Candidates can�t go door-to-door in the private community. Still, when candidate and initiative forums were held at the manor, nearly 200 people showed up each time. Those who missed the sessions watched a replay on the manor�s in-house television system. "Probably 90 percent of the residents saw the video or went to the meetings," said Pat Seggelin, the director of resident services. When the candidates for state representative showed up to debate at SOU, only about 35 students attended. There are efforts afoot to turn things around at the university. The student government held an all-out registration drive and pushed Precinct 10�s registration to the second highest point in 10 years. "We got over half the students (living on campus) registered," said Erin Watari, student body vice president. "Now we are focusing on getting out the vote. We get five to eight people a night calling now. I don�t think it�s ever been this aggressive in the past." Student body President Scott Young manned a ballot drop box much of the week in the student union. A number of students, including Talia Carpenter, were lured into their first voting experience by the ease of voting at the university. "I was just excited I was old enough to vote and make a difference," said Carpenter, an 18-year-old freshman who lives on campus. "The thing I felt most strongly about was the trapping measure. There�s already enough restrictions on hunting." David Loitz�s ballot followed Carpenter�s into the drop box. "I went up to Seattle (to a music festival) and people were handing out things for Nader," said Loitz, 19. "I grabbed some of his stuff, and that got me. I wanted to make a difference and vote for Nader." Though it�s unlikely that voter registration efforts at the university or lack of drop boxes at the manor will dramatically alter the tale of these two precincts, the final chapter may reveal the characters aren�t as disparate as they seem. "With the exception of the party they vote for, there are a lot of similarities in the way the (two precincts) vote," said Shaw, who both directs and analyzes local campaigns. "They both support libraries and they support schools." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.