Students missing from polls

Democratic candidate Jim Esch speaks with Omaha resident Debra Virchow about his campaign. Esch is running for a Congressional seat in Omaha's 2nd District against incumbent Lee Terry.

By BRIANNA HERNANDEZ
Special Section Editor

The obnoxious person sitting next to you in class might be too pretentious to have a Facebook profile, but Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson isn’t. Neither is Nelson’s opponent, republican candidate Pete Ricketts. In fact, nearly every midterm election candidate across the nation has a Facebook profile in hopes of achieving the same goal: getting students to vote.

Thousands of students have voiced their political opinons on Facebook, creating groups and pledging their support for candidates.

Though many students are taking an interest on Facebook, fewer than half of college-age voters participated in the last presidential election, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Jim Esch, the Democratic candidate running for the congressional seat in Nebraska’s 2nd District, said he thinks students do not show up at the polls on Election Day for a few reasons.

“One reason is simply apathy. Another reason is that I think they get frustrated with our system,” he said. “So many young voters are moderate and our system excludes anyone with moderate or independent beliefs because the two parties are so divided. They see all the ‘B.S.’ that’s going on and get frustrated with our system.”

President of Omaha’s League of Women Voters Barbara Tripp said students should become engaged in voting and politics as soon as possible.

“I think students start to think that their vote really won’t matter,” she said. “But they need to be engaged in the current issues. The way they vote now will influence the policies that will affect them later in life.”

Esch said student votes count even more in midterm elections because of the voter turnout.

“Students should participate in this election because their votes will truly count,” he said. “This election will have a lower turnout of voters, which means that voters’ votes will actually make a difference.”

He also said students should be paying particular attention to issues like U.S. involvement in Iraq.

“Foreign policy is a big issue right now. If things don’t start going well in the Middle East, who knows what will happen?” he said.

Republican Congressman Lee Terry of Nebraska said on his Web site that voters should realize the need to “provide [troops] with the tools and resources they need to finish the job and return home safely when their mission is complete.”

Arts & Sciences junior Kendra Heideman is an active member of Creighton’s Peace and Justice Co-op, an on-campus group involved in political and social justice issues. She said students should educate themselves on the issues that the media does not typically cover.

“Students tend to care about Iraq, foreign nuclear capabilities and the environment because of the extensive media coverage [these issues receive],” she said. “Students generally have less interest in Medicare and Social Security.”

Tripp agrees that students should educate themselves about Medicare.

“Eventually, students’ parents will be on Medicare, so this is something that students should start looking at.”

Esch said he believes education is a largely under-publicized issue.

“Education affects students greatly. Loans are being cut, but education is the best investment for our country’s future. Students should be concerned about this.”

With the upcoming election in less than a week, Creighton students are working to inspire other students to become politically active and vote.

Business senior Jacqueline Miller and Business junior Rachel Knust, both members of the Pi Beta Phi, recently organized an event to boost student voter participation.

Miller and Knust passed out nearly 200 absentee ballots on Skinner Mall as part of Pi Beta Phi’s project to raise voter participation. Students were able to fill out absentee request forms from their hometowns and learn about candidates and local issues.

Although the deadline for requesting absentee ballots has passed for many states, students from Kansas and Iowa, among other states, can still submit absentee ballots until Nov. 7.

Knust said that students should become more proactive about participating in politics.

“We don’t want to be known as the apathetic generation,” Knust said.