Polls receive student voters

Over a thousand students will head to the polls in Princeton today to cast their vote in New Jersey’s presidential primary, results of an e-mail survey conducted by The Daily Princetonian show.

The unscientific survey also found that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is the favorite among the undergraduates polled, with support from 55 percent of all respondents and 72 percent of those who said they will be voting for a Democrat in the primary. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) came in second in the survey, favored by 20 percent of all respondents and 27 percent of those voting for Democrats.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) led the Republican candidates, with 12 percent of the total vote and 56 percent of the Republican vote.

Nearly 26 percent of the students surveyed said they are planning to vote in Princeton. If the survey accurately predicts turnout, around 1,200 undergraduates will cast ballots in town. Of the students who do not plan to vote in Princeton, 70 percent plan to vote in a primary in their home district, according to the survey.

The survey was conducted from Jan. 31 to Feb. 4 and had 310 respondents.

Increasing turnout

Elise Schlissel ’09, Democratic co-chair of P-Votes, an organization that helps students register to vote, said that she and other P-Votes members have been working to mitigate problems on Election Day. “[Misregistration] is a serious problem and one that P-Votes will be making a great effort to deal with in coming years,” Schlissel said.

Schlissel advised students to make sure to complete a change of address form at the beginning of each school year. P-Votes will have a table set up in Frist to direct students to the right voting places.

Republican P-Votes co-chair Wyatt Yankus ’09 added that he hopes a lot of students will attend the results-watching party at 7 p.m. today in Frist.

Support nonprofit student journalism. Donate to the ‘Prince’. Donate now »

In addition, Scott Weingart ’09, vice president of the College Democrats, is leading a Get out the Vote (GOTV) effort for undergraduate students on campus. The aim of these efforts is to target individuals who are already registered but may not realize or remember that they can vote in tomorrow’s primary.

A dozen volunteers are knocking on dorm doors to reach out to voters, which Weingart said is “a step beyond P-Votes.” In addition, GOTV has put up red posters on campus urging students to vote.

Other campus organizations will be urging students to vote for specific candidates. Shelby Gai ’10, co-director of the Princeton Students for Obama chapter that has been working to increase turnout for Obama on campus, said that though Obama is slightly behind in New Jersey polls, she is “fairly confident that the [efforts of the] Students for Obama organization, coupled with the grassroots effort in Princeton, will result in a win,” Gai said.

Similarly, the Princeton for Hillary group has been organizing results-watching parties for the earlier primaries and putting up posters and yard signs. Adam Baron ’08, the group’s head, said that though Obama supporters are “more vocal,” he believes Clinton supporters “don’t feel it’s as imperative to get her name out. But when it comes to actually voting she can expect pretty strong turnout.”

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

College Republicans president Andrew Malcolm ’09 said that though he doesn’t know of any campus groups supporting specific Republican candidates, his organization will try to bring Republicans to the polls. “New Jersey is especially critical because whoever wins the state will win all of New Jersey’s 52 delegates,” he said.

Potential problems

Though campaigners are eager to push students to vote, the large number of potential student voters worries Princeton Borough Election Officer Arch Davis ’69, who will be running one of the voting booths.

Davis said that there are three large registration problems for student voters: They often move within the same voting district from year to year, they may move from one voting district to another, or they switch residences between the Township and the Borough.

If a student is registered in the wrong district or municipality, he or she is required to re-register and fill out a provisional ballot, which Davis said may never be counted. He estimated that 90 provisional ballots were used during the local elections in November. “I dread to think how many we will have in this election,” he said.

Davis explained that provisional ballots “may be vetted after the fact if the election is close enough or never looked at. Ultimately a judge would have to approve it.”

Students explain candidate choices

Respondents to the ‘Prince’s’ e-mail survey, some of whom chose not to provide their names, listed many reasons for their support of various presidential candidates, from their “gut instinct” to the claim that “a sock could run the country better than a Republican.”

Students expressing support for Obama most often cited his background and his ideals. “His first name rhymes with Iraq, his last name is one letter from Osama, and his middle name is Hussein.

When a half-black, son of a Kenyan farmer, educated in Muslim Indonesia becomes president of the United States, the world will be able to see American democracy, freedom, and tolerance not as empty platitudes, but as ideals to which it can aspire,” Luke Goodwin ’08 said in his survey response.

Hillary Clinton fans touted her experience. “Clinton is an indisputable policy wonk, is extremely intelligent, and has the experience to make real progress in Washington. ... As much as college students nationwide are enamored with Obama, I don’t see as much substance behind his ‘refreshing’ message,” Mike Honigberg ’08 said.

Ephraim Chen ’09 supported Republican Mike Huckabee because of his faith and moral values. “Mike Huckabee is an honest and sincere man of faith, principle, and vision who connects with people at a genuine and personal level,” he said. “I can trust Mr. Huckabee to defend this country from our enemies, prevent moral values from disintegrating within society, and practice fiscal conservatism.”

— Princetonian staff writer Shaina Li contributed reporting.