Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Social Issues why college students dont vote why college students dont vote It has become a growing trend in the 1990’s that college students do not take advantage of their right to vote and to take part in the democratic system. In fact, “only one out of every three individuals in the 18 to 24 age group cast a ballot in the 1996 presidential election. College students ranked as the least represented demographic” (http://www.idsnews.com/ news/2000.07.31/campus/2000.07.31.students.html). Students do not want to vote for many different reasons. They are considered apathetic by society, but this isn’t really the case. In actuality, students feel that politicians turn them away. Most importantly, students do not vote because they feel that they can’t make a difference. Also, distance from their voting districts has been a problem for many people. Another major issue for students is that they are just too busy and don’t make time to follow politics closely. In polling freshman at Manhattanville College, I discovered that all these are true. The effects of this may be catastrophic. Politicians need to start including and interesting the people of my generation in order to keep democracy thriving. The biggest factor that turns people away from voting is the feeling of ineffectuality. Based on an article from September 1999 in The Maneater, students feel as if voting won’t make a difference. "I don't vote because I can't make a big difference, even though they say I can," junior Jack Weatherman said. "Even my political science teacher said one person can't change things" (http://www.themaneater.com/1999/09/21/news/apathy.html). Unless society and politicians show the world that every vote counts, and everybody can make a difference this feeling will always remain. People need to understand that if every single person tries to make a difference, then the combination of everyone’s efforts will make a difference. The important thing to remember is that it takes the effort of the individual to give strength to the power of the whole. Today’s society, as a whole, tends to view young people as indifferent and blasé about the world around them. However, students feel that they are tuned out by politics. According to the responses to the survey I gave, college students feel that the issues addresses do not pertain to them, and are not relevant to their lives. Issues such as Medicare, and what to do about social security are not a concern of young people and their lives right now. College students have a hard time looking into the future, and do not understand that eventually issues like this will affect them too. They also feel that politicians ignore them and their concerns. Take for example the bill proposed which requires the address on a person’s voter registration card to match their driver’s license, (http://www.studentadvantage.com/ article/0,1075,c8-i0-t0-a25585,00.html). This is a direct hit at the students, and they see it as a way they are being tuned out by politics. Politicians are trying to make it harder for them to vote, by making it harder for them to vote at school. Absentee ballots provide some solution for this problem, but not everyone takes advantage of this opportunity. In accordance with the above paragraph, the survey results also showed that many people cited their distance from home to be a major cause of their not voting. Many students, having just turned eighteen, registered right away to vote. Then, they went off to school, sometimes hours from home, and realized too late that they had forgotten to get an absentee ballot. In many cases, it was impossible for them to get home and vote. This factor alone was the major issue for a large percentage of people. Perhaps, it should be possible for all registered voters to vote in any district they could get to. This would open up the accessibility of the election to more people, and make it easier for them to go to the polls. Generally, people felt that the present system is unfair because they are being penalized for simple forgetfulness. Students remember too late to get an absentee ballot, which doesn’t necessarily indicate lack of awareness and concern, just that students live very full lives. Students that I talked to said that they are too busy to follow politics. Many students have not only a full class and workload, but other commitments as well. Athletics, employment, relationships, family obligations, and other such things, fill any free time that students have. Balancing school and everything else doesn’t leave people with enough time to watch the news, read the newspaper, or listen to the radio. When young people have free time they are ten times more likely to go out then catch up on the world news. This point alone doesn’t indicate that they lack awareness; it is just that everyone needs some time to unwind. As a result of all this, students cannot make an educated choice of candidates at the polls. In January 2000 in the Iowa Pulse this point can be proven by the quote made by an 18-year-old college student, "It's boring. Most of it is stuff I don't think about or doesn't concern me," Ferguson, 18, said. "I try not to pay attention because it's just one more thing to bother or worry me” (http://www.iowapulse.com /iowapeople/dmacc19.shtml). If young people don’t take advantage of their right to vote and participate in the political process, the results could be long- lasting. Presently, the political process still gets done because older generations use their right to vote. As today’s young people get older and the older generations of today die off, the political process will stop working. If we leave the fate of America’s politics in the hands of young people of today, the results will be catastrophic. Unless the rising generations take part in the political process it will become endangered. If people stop voting, then the democratic process will be threatened. Without voting, people lose a large say in what goes on in their world. Politicians need to eradicate the many causes of non-voting among young people, to stop the long lasting effects of it. However, if politicians work with young people many of these problems can be solved. Rather than blocking out young people from politics, we should make every effort to include the young people of my generation. Things such as Mtv’s Rock the Vote Campaign serve just this purpose. We need politicians out there in the places where college students will see them. In those situations we can clearly see politicians relating to, and acting one-on-one with people of my generation. If politicians do not make the effort, college students will not make the effort. The effects of this will be felt for years and decades to come. The future of democracy will be at risk, if young people continue to ignore their right to have a say in government. Bibliography: Works Cited http://www.idsnews.com/ news/2000.07.31/campus/2000.07.31.students.html http://www.themaneater.com/1999/09/21/news/apathy.html http://www.studentadvantage.com/ article/0,1075,c8-i0-t0-a25585,00.html http://www.iowapulse.com /iowapeople/dmacc19.shtml). Word Count: 1135
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