296 U. students register to vote through voter registration initiative

With the 2016 Presidential Election less than a month away, University student groups are encouraging students to engage with the electoral process through various events.

On Friday, Sept. 30, Undergraduate Student Government partnered with the American Whig-Cliosophic Society, Princeton Votes, and the Interclub Council to host a campus-wide voter registration initiative. The goal was to register students as voters in the state of New Jersey, or as absentee voters in their respective home states.

According to Michael Cox '17, USG Campus and Community Affairs Chair, the event successfully registered 102 students as New Jersey voters and 108 students as absentee voters in their home states. Additionally, in a separate event held at the Nassau Street Sampler on Sept. 15, there were 71 New Jersey voter registrations and 15 absentee ballot requests, Cox added.

“Even though we are all on a college campus, it doesn’t mean that we are exempt from voting," USG President Aleksandra Czulak '17 said. "That means oftentimes you have to send an absentee ballot, or a request for an absentee ballot, or register to vote in New Jersey. That is not an excuse to not vote.” She noted that this is the first year USG has taken part in organizing voter registration initiatives.

Czulak thought the event was an overall success. " I thought that was incredible because ... it shows that there is a demand for students who want to know more about how to register back home," she said.

Given that the Whig-Clio event was spearheaded entirely by students, there was ample room for the “student voice,” Czulak explained. "It shows that it's not just a political atmosphere."

Whig-Clio President Allison Berger ’18 attributed much of the event’s success to the array of organizations involved.

“You’re seeing student groups, student government, and the Street all coming together, and I think that’s what was really appealing to people,” Berger said. “These groups are very different, they don’t usually work together, but they’ve come together for something that is so important, which is being engaged in voting."

Berger is a member of the ‘Prince’ Editorial Board.

Historically, turnout for college-aged students has been the lowest among age groupings, with only 38 percent of total registered voters ages 18 to 24 voting in the 2012 presidential election.

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“Voting is an option that we can exercise, but we can also choose not to exercise that option,” Assistant Professor of Politics Ali Valenzuela said.

He predicts no change in the voter participation rates for college students in this election, stating that “when Bernie Sanders was talking about the revolution that would come on the backs of college students, I would tell college students and friends of mine that the revolution will never come on the backs of college students. We have mountains and mountains of evidence that younger voters are just not as interested in politics and just aren’t as willing to turn out on election day.”

Valenzuela partially attributed this lack of participation to the habit-forming nature of the election process.

“The 18-year-old doesn’t have that kind of identity as a voter, they’ve never voted before," he said. "But the 36-year-old who has voted in every election thinks of him or herself as a voter, so that’s going to affect whether or not they are going to vote in the next election, with college students being less likely to vote."

He also said that he believes there is nothing “particularly politically threatening or motivating for [college students] in this election cycle,” and that “there are other segments of the electorate like immigrants, Muslims, women, who have real clear concerns about at least one of the two candidates that should mobilize them.”

While Stanley Katz, Professor in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, calls the ballot a “discouraging choice,” he views this election as a highly consequential one.

“I think the stakes are very high. But it’s a sign of the ways in which the… larger political system is in trouble. I think we need young people … who sign on for the long haul,” Katz said.

He explained how low voter turnout has been influenced by the weakening of the two-party system and that colleges have not accounted for this polarization of politics enough. He added that “liberal arts citizenship is one of the things we’re teaching… I think the institution ought to be making the case that students ought to vote, that it’s a civic responsibility … We don’t do that, most institutions don’t do that, and I think that’s wrong.”

Katz said the University has an obligation to “work with our students, to make them understand that they have civic responsibilities, and that everything isn’t a partisan thing."

"I don’t care how you vote, but I care a lot that you vote," Katz said. "And what I mean by that, I care a lot that you’re engaged in a civic manner. And I think that’s a responsibility of a liberal arts institution.”