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BYU at the center of nonvoter vortex

Most people forget that when 18 year olds were given the vote in the 1970s, it was done because "they" believed it would revolutionize national politics. The young, at that time, tended to vote Democratic, and the 18 year old vote was passed by a Democratic congress to give Democrats an advantage at the polls.

However, it turns out that young people don't vote, they didn't back then, and they still don't, and the 18 year old vote as proven to be a giant flop.

Well, I've got Illinois voter cards for four of my children who haven't lived here for years. I believe the family record is my son who hasn't lived here for six years. One child has TWO cards, since Illinois has the Motor Voter law---you have a pulse, you get a voter card.
Beyond the logistics of registration and its lack of value, our leaders don't inspire us, do they? At all levels they are repeatedly pulling boneheaded stunts.
Here's a solution: Add a candidate "Mulligan" to every race. If Mulligan wins, they have to come back in 90 days with all new candidates to choose from. Or am I just being cynical?

Those students are very transient. How many of the eligible voters in those precincts actually still live there?

It's sad that an area that is dominated by the Mormon religion doesn't live up to the 11th article and sustain the law - ie VOTE. Practice what you preach, get off your duff and get out to vote.

Interesting...so community apathy begins in college, eh? i would think that the college student populations (maybe not BYU though) would be more socially protestative and therefore politically active. guess not. too bad so sad.

How many of the students living in that area are eligible to vote in the local elections? When I went to BYU I was still registered in my home area (since I went back for summers anyway) and voted by absentee ballot in all of the elections. My husband did the same. Maybe it's not that the students are apathetic, but don't consider the apartment that they may only be living in for 8 months "home."

Many of the students there are from other states, and therefore are unable to vote in their precincts.

Some of you guys are missing the point here. It has nothing to do with the Mormon church (unless, I guess, you just need an opportunity to bash) and it's a municipal election. It's very understandable that a college-age, transient demographic would turn out in low numbers to vote.

I agree with both the first commenter and the 8:09 post. The people who have a real incentive to vote are the property holders. If you don't hold property or it isn't a major presidential election, the issues really have nothing to do with your life as you see it. I don't think anyone under 21 should have the right to vote. I wouldn't agree with disenfranchising non-property holders, but I think the 18-21 vote is largely a joke.
Second, when I was a student at BYU I voted by absentee ballot for my home district in another state. I even had to find a notary to supervise my voting and I still did it.

As a recent college grad, it's very easy to ignore the local community. Most of your time is spent either in class, studying, or at a part-time job that you need to sustain your family. I'm sure some students vote by absentee ballot in their home community, but the article is in regards to voters registered in Provo.

Unless local community leaders reach out to students, students are not going to go out of their way to learn about local community issues. Most students anyways are planning on moving out of the college community when they graduate anyways, so they don't exactly have a vested interest in who is serving on the local city council for the next 2-4 years.

Most students also don't bother to read the local newspaper as they tend to get their news from national television and the internet, which usually doesn't focus on local issues. Students are also surrounded in the community by...other students. If local citizens would get to know their student neighbors, conversations would happen about local issues. Perhaps then students will care enough to vote.

To Rick who thinks that the apathy has something to do with church membership, municipal elections anywhere in the United States often have voting turnouts of 20 percent MAXIMUM. If you have an area that has a lot of non residents who might live in the area for a grand total of 32 months over four years, there is not a lot of incentive to track local ballot initiatives, city council races, etc., especially if you are from someplace outside of Utah and you come to this place where politics is simply weird. There is not a lot of incentive for transferring your residence to Utah and even if you do, and register to vote, I'm sorry, but the local Provo election is low on the radar of what's happening. How would a student even find out what the local issues are?

Another reason is that students have been taken out of local politics by the city. Look at a map of the precints and districts. All five districts in Provo pinwheel out from the BYU campus look at the map on Provo's election website. (I cant post the link here) You can't tell me this wasn't done intentionally to keep the students from voting as a group or even to have a student representative. The students need to be more involved and the non-students need to recognize that what makes Provo a great town is the University.

I'm a BYU student who did not vote in the recent elections. I didn't vote because I'm registered in California, not Utah. I could register in Utah, but I'm graduating next semester and don't feel qualified to be making decisions about local government when I'm not going to be around to either reap the benefits or feel the consequences. That should be left to the people who are actually permanent residents in Provo.

I spent 4 years out of State attending college. I NEVER voted in those elections because I remained registered here at home and voted absentee. I simply did not feel the connection, nor interest in my college town to be inclined to vote on issues that might affect the locals for decades to come. I did feel compelled to stay in touch at home and vote there.

Frankly, if I had my druthers, I'd actually discourage out-of-town college students from voting in local elections unless/until they had established some real ties to the local community such as home ownership or something more than a part time job. I would encourage them to vote (absentee if necessary) in their home town elections.

Of course, I have no delusions that most college students do not vote in any elections. They are simply not really paying attention to such things yet. And that is not necessarily a bad thing. A random, un-informed vote, simply for the sake of voting really does not add anything worthwhile to the process. It is one reason I'm not big on motor voter or other laws making it trivial to register.

Nice comment Bulsie -- I couldn't agree more!!

I have to agree with Charles. If the interest isn't in the voter, then an uniformed vote is worthless. The article said "7000 REGISTERED" voters...if you weren't registered then you don't need to be concerned about having not voted. Those who were registered should have voted if they were concerned about their community. If you have no interest in being a part of the community then go ahead and keep your registration in your home state. If you register just to get residency in a state you don't intend to stay in, then maybe you need to rethink your reason fot establishing residency.

I feel college students don't vote because they aren't represented. Politicians focus on the family, property owners, and businesses. College students are often still supported BY the family, do NOT own property, nor own many enterprises operating as a going concern. As long as they will be ignored by politicians, they will likely ignore the politicians as well.

I doubt most students rarely read a newspaper, or watch a newscast to find out what the candidates positions are. How many of the candidates even try to talk to students at the Y. The idea that you are only to be there for a short time shows a tremendous lack of maturity on their invovlement as citizens. They live there and have a right to determine who is making decisions that can and will affect them.

We also have the issue of the dirty tricks and smear campaigns that are run so often. Who wants to have their life, their families lives smeared and drug through the dirt. The affluent are the ones who seem to run for these positions.

Take a look at the 2003 SLC mayoral election. Only 26% of the voters voted. The citizens who didnt' vote got what they wanted; a mayor more interested in being a national figure on the anti-war agenda that preserving the infrastructure of the city he swore to protect. Rocky's legacy should be the dilpadated police station. That is what those 76% should remember for a ong time.

Citizens who don't vote have lost their right to complain.

The comment about low-turnout is a percentage of the REGISTERED voters in that area. It's not by how many people live in that area. Thus, those who live there but are not registered there do not count in that percentage, whether they voted by absentee ballot or not at all. In only takes into account those whose addresses fall within those boundaries on their voter registration form. That being said, I think there are several causes for the low turnout, including those on missions who most likely didn't vote, and those who only consider themselves temporary residents of the state and don't feel like they should interfere with the state's government. Personally, I felt a little odd voting on Referendum 1, since I may be moving out of the state before my kid(s) go to school. But, that is not a good reason not to vote. Perhaps more effort should be put into encouraging students to vote, no matter how long they think they will live here...

I think some of you missed the point in the article that the dearth of voters was out of the number of REGISTERED voters. In other words, this wasn't based on all residents in the college-dominated zip code; this was based on the residents in the college dominated zip code who HAD REGISTERED.

Therefore they are by definition not individuals voting out of state.

They are just apathetic college students, unfortunately.