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The Voting Dilemma
By Audrey Terhune
J-Lab Contributing Writer
To vote or not to vote, that is the question. As this years presidential elections approaching, Americans have been hearing many different candidates’ opinions and ideas for how to change America.
“Right now American culture is on a teeter-tauter,” John Scott, Assistant professor in History, said. The next president will probably appoint a minimum of two judges on the Supreme Court and even more judges in the lower courts which would affect this country for years, he said.
With the potential for change in America many college students will have the opportunity to participate, yet few Corban College students have any idea whom they would vote for during the Oregon Primary.
A primary election, according the American Heritage Dictionary, is an election in which the voters nominate party candidates for office.
“I’m not impressed with anybody,” Kristine Terhune, a senior education major said. “I know who’s ahead in the primary; I can tell you how many states they have.”
It is not that Kristine is uninterested or unimpressed with politics. Rather she said that the reason she has not decided who to vote for is because she does not have time to do the research.
Many college students actually do want to vote. A study by the Associated Press showed that young voter turnout rose in the past two elections. In the 2004 presidential election, about 20.1 million young people, ages 18 to 29, voted. The turnout rate was 49 percent, up 9 percentage points from 2000.
Christian College “students should be very excited” about this presidential election, Scott said, because they have to opportunity to shape the American government with their vote.
With about 44 million 18- to 29-year-olds eligible to vote in this year’s presidential election, they will represent a fifth, or 21 percent, of the eligible voting population.
When Bethany Caldwell, a junior ministry major, was asked if she had any idea who she would vote for, she said, “No, I haven’t the foggiest idea. I haven’t really look into it that much, and since I don’t have to vote till May, I thought I’d wait a little more time to figure things out.”
The Oregon’s Primary will be held on Tuesday, May 20. This means that everyone who intends to vote needs to be registered before the last week in April.
With classes ending on May 2, the primary will happen after school lets out for the summer. It is not that students do not vote or are not interested in voting in the primary; it is that they are not informed on the candidates.
Students “will really have to make it a priority [this year].” Professor Scott said. “We actually can shape the face of Caesar.”
