Young voters apathetic to elections

Commentators are predicting the political equivalent of an earthquake in today's mid-term congressional elections, but do not expect Generation X to awaken from its apathetic slumber. Despite increased participation in the 1992 presidential election, 18- to 25-year-olds are still the segment of the electorate least likely to vote, especially in mid-term elections that receive less media attention than presidential races. Marty Cohen, a College Democrats employee working on Lt. Governor Mark Singel's gubernatorial bid, said he has been frustrated by student apathy in this election season. "College students don't seem to be that interested," he said. "I've been having a problem getting firm commitments to help out although people are willing in general to do something." In 1992, Rock the Vote, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to increasing the political involvement young voters, was promoted heavily through MTV. It ran television specials and advertisements aimed at the Generation X crowd, held rallies and was largely credited for turning around youth voting patterns that had been declining since 1968. But this year is different. Rock the Vote is still around, but they have been almost silent -- except for this year's "Rock the System" campaign aimed at getting young voters involved in health care reform. "We had tried to work with them," Cohen said. "We almost had an event with them for homecoming weekend at Penn State and they just weren't interested at all." Cohen said he was disheartened by the attitude of the people at Rock the Vote because it reinforces the idea that midterm elections are not important. Youth Vote '94 and Lead or Leave, two groups also working to increase the influence of young voters, have been more active than Rock the Vote. But without the power of MTV behind them, it remains to be seen what influence they will have. Youth Vote has registered more than 250,000 students nationwide for today's election, according to Hedy Aronson, a campus coordinator for Campus Green Vote, an environmentally focused subdivision of Youth Vote '94. And several campus organizations -- including College Democrats, College Republicans and PennPAC, a pro-Israel group -- held a joint voter registration drive last week. Cohen, who helped out with the drive, said he personally gave more than 200 registration forms to the Board of Elections. "I think it was a good thing showing the elections are important regardless of who you are going to vote for," said College senior Randi Guest, who helped organize the event for PennPAC. College Republican President Dan Debicella said the turn out for the registration drive was moderate, adding that most students are either not interested in the election or are voting in their home districts through absentee ballots. Even among those registered, it is unclear how many young people will actually vote. In 1993, there were 2.5 million Republicans, 2.9 million Democrats and 370,000 independents registered in Pennsylvania between the ages of 18 and 24. Only 42% of these people voted during the primary season. Campaigns across the state are hoping that increased turnout today will help put their candidates over the top. The youth vote is a key component in the 27th ward, which incorporates all University dormitories, according to both the Republican and Democratic ward leaders. "It's very important to me," Democratic ward leader Kevin Fassett said of the University's student voters. "Normally in the presidential election we get 80 percent turnout in this ward." Fassett said midterm elections usually do not attract as many students, but that this year Irvine Auditorium has put on an extra voting machine due to an increase in the voter rolls. Republican ward leader Matthew Wolfe also said University students are important in this election. "We are finding that the college students are more interested in the senate race than the governor's race," Wolfe said. "A lot of them are not originally from Pennsylvania, but they do see the national context of the Santorum-Wofford race."

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