College Students Avoid the Voting Polls

More than 5,000 students live on Texas Tech University’s campus; only 1,637 are registered to vote in Lubbock, and only 153 of them, or 9.4 percent, cast their vote in the November midterm election, according to research by Neale Pearson.

Neale Pearson, political science professor emeritus.

“In recent years, the campus precincts have had the lowest turnout rate in the county,” the political science professor emeritus said. “That’s hard to believe.”

Low voting rates among Tech students could point to a much bigger issue.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in every presidential election since 1964, voters between the ages of 18 and 24 years old have consistently voted at lower rates than all other age groups.

The issue of young adults not turning out to vote has gotten national attention for years with the help of non-profits like Rock the Vote, an organization established in 1990 that uses pop culture, music, art and technology to appeal to young adults in an effort to increase voting.

However, according to the Census Bureau, America’s youngest voters have moved toward less engagement over time. Voting rates for this age group fluctuate from one election to another but have steadily dropped from a peak of 50.9 percent in 1964 to a 38 percent turnout in the 2012 presidential election.

The voting rate of young adults is lower than the national percentage with 29.6 percent turning out in the 2012 election, giving Texas the third lowest rate in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“It’s a real shame that not enough students turn out,” Cole Adams, the president of Tech Student Democrats, said. “But, I think at the end of the day, and I hate to be an apologist for students, but it’s not always at the top of our mind for young people in general.”

In October, PoliTech, a non-partisan political group at Tech, received national attention and criticism when the members released a video,“Politically Challenged: Texas Tech Edition,” showing students on campus unable to answer questions such as “Who is the vice president?” and “Who won the Civil War?” but were quick to share their knowledge about celebrities’ love lives.

Ricky Neville, vice president of PoliTech, a nonpartisan political group at Tech.

The vice president of PoliTech said the video was not meant to be a criticism of Tech students,but a wake up call to young adults everywhere.

“This is why the video was so important because now it got people’s attention and showed that there is a problem on average,” Ricky Neville said. “We are just trying to shift people’s interests to something that we believe is more important to the campus, the community, and to the individuals themselves.”

Professor Emeritus Pearson said students just have more exciting things to do than take an interest in political matters and apathy is part of the young adults’ problem.

“I think you could say, to a certain extent, that students are apathetic,” Adams said. “I think students just don’t have any reason or motivation [to vote].”

He said this lack of motivation is attributable to the political system’s lack of interest to focus on issues that directly affect students, such as student loans.

“If you look at issues like Obamacare,” Adams said, “at the end of the day, students don’t care.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, voting rates increase with each age group, and Americans 65 years and older typically have the highest voting rate. This age group’s voting rate was 69.7 percent in 2012, six percentage points more than the next highest age group.

Adams said politicians are supposed to focus on their voting pool, which happens to be the older generation, so it is skewed toward an older generation.

“Politicians look at these numbers, and they know that college students are not voting as much,” Neville said, “so why spend their resources on trying to get their vote as much as the older people?”

Since the political system is not focusing on student issues, it is up to young adults to start engaging in a bigger dialogue about what is going on, Adams said.

“I don’t think it’s just about voting,” he said. “It’s about getting students involved in the issues that are a part of voting.”

Adams said the goal of Tech Student Democrats is to get students engaged in politics in general by hosting social, volunteer and political activities as well as several events focused on specific issues targeted to the younger generation, like global climate change and student debt.

President of the Tech Student Democrats, Cole Adams.

Tech Student Democrats main goal for the last election cycle was to encourage voting, he said, which the group accomplished by registering voters on campus.

“We registered about 300 voters on campus,” Adams said. “It was open to anyone; we were out in the SUB for three weeks straight just registering people to vote.”

According to Pearson’s research, out of the 5,000 students living on Tech’s campus, only 1,637 of them are registered voters.

Adams said it is important for people to register, so they have access to vote, but the real problem is actually getting them to do it.

“At some point, there has got to be a watershed that says it’s cool to vote,” he said. “It happens every two years. It’s not that difficult; just go vote.”

 

[Editor’s Note: The Texas Tech Republicans were contacted for an interview, but, due to scheduling conflicts, have not been able to speak out yet.]

About Nicole Crites

Entertainment Director - Senior journalism major from Fort Worth, TX