As November’s presidential election draws nearer, members of political parties become more fervent in their efforts to influence the minds of those going to the polls. Many such political activists are students here on campus.
Included in the key groups within this realm of influence are the College Democrats and Students for Barack Obama on the liberal side, and College Republicans on the more conservative side of the political spectrum.
Co-chairs of the Obama group Sarah Green-Golan ’09 and Jessica Schumacher ’11 have been concentrating on working closely with President Bill Raines ’09 of the College Democrats in their efforts to raise student awareness on Obama’s credibility and qualifications as a candidate.
Both groups are cooperating with field organizer David Litt from the Obama campaign in order to raise awareness on stances and the positive impact the senator from Illinois could potentially have on the country.
At the beginning of the year, the Democrats hosted their first public structural meeting, which coincided with Obama’s acceptance speech for the Democratic party’s nomination.
“We had about 120 people show up for the meeting [and] watch party at the UG where we had many people sign up to volunteer by doing things including tabling, canvassing, phone banking and taking various leadership positions,” Schumacher said. The event was a success, in spite of the fact that there was only a four-day window in which to organize it.
These two Democratic groups have been focusing on the preliminary step of getting students registered to vote.
“As most people know, voter turnout among young people is horrendous, so our goal is to change that – regardless of political affiliation,” said Schumacher.
To achieve this goal, the groups have been tabling in Lowry at multiple points throughout the week. At the tables, both sign up sheets for their individual cause as well as voter registration forms ae offered.
Following these tabling sessions, the groups plan to institute even more measures to capture the interest of students. “We will be focusing on early voting, absentee ballots and Get Out The Vote on Nov. 4. We will also be creating issue fliers to put around campus that have major issues (Iraq, healthcare, economy, etc.) on them and each candidate’s stance on the issues,” said Schumacher.
Meanwhile, in addition to campaigning for the Republican candidate, Sen. John McCain, the College Republicans are working to realize their own ambitions this election season.
“We’re looking to be a very active club on campus this year,” said Joseph McCarthy ’11, the group’s president. “We’re still in orientation mode, getting everything into gear, but we have a couple of general ideas.”
According to McCarthy, the Student Republicans have two major goals they wish to accomplish. The more important of the two, in McCarthy’s opinion, is to heighten campus awareness of political issues and current events.
McCarthy wishes “to eliminate as much ignorance as possible in the College community,” though he adds that “[t]hat is not to say that the student body is ignorant – it is, on the contrary, mostly well-educated and intelligent. But even the most brilliant people are plagued by ignorance on at least some issues, sometimes through no fault of their own.”
The other goal of the club is to increase its member count and come to wield greater influence on campus. In addition to these two objectives, McCarthy plans to undertake certain projects like a campaign to expose the falsity of select statements that have been made by politicians on the national stage.
McCarthy also recently met with officers from the College Democrats to discuss a potential forum in which representatives from each group will debate important issues in the election. The forum would most likely take place on three different nights, each separated by a week’s time span, with a certain issue being addressed by participants on each successive night.
The debate, which, according to McCarthy, would also probably feature a moderator from the League of Informed Voters, would take place in front of an audience and also offer refreshments.
In this election, McCarthy believes there are several important issues facing college students, the most significant of which is the topic of the economy. “Federal spending is also relevant because it affects the government’s student aid programs,” he said. “There are also many issues that are relevant in less direct ways but are still very important to them, such as gay and women’s rights, free vs. fair trade, welfare and the ‘war on Terror.'”
To a person who is considering voting but has not yet decided, McCarthy would say that “it is something of a moral obligation [to vote]. In a democracy, the government is supposed to be subordinate to the will of the people. For every citizen that doesn’t vote, the government becomes a little less subordinate. So, when you have 50 percent of the nation not voting, the government is only half as subordinate to the people’s will, and that’s dangerous. The government should be answering to all 300 million Americans, not just half of them.”