Not all IU Buckeyes embrace Ohio vote

Sophomore Hillary Knapp helped register more than 40 people to take part in this year's election while working as a volunteer for Rock the Vote! There was just one person she overlooked: Herself.\n"I ended up being pretty hypocritical," Knapp said. "I voted in my residence hall last year and the year before that at home and I didn't realize you had to register back in the original spot. By the time I found out, it was too late to register in either place. I was in limbo." \nComplicating things for Knapp, who supported Democrat Sen. John Kerry, her home vote could have been tallied in Ohio. That state ultimately decided the election and President George W. Bush won it by fewer than 140,000 votes, about 2 percent of the voting population. Knapp was not the only one who didn't take advantage of a voting system which values presidential votes in close races more than those in forgone conclusions, like Indiana.\n"I got lucky because (Bush) did end up winning it," said Justin Larkin, a Republican and a sophomore from Hudson, Ohio, who voted in Bloomington. "I was getting crap from my roommates, who are from Indiana. Their vote didn't really matter."\nLarkin said not voting at home by absentee ballot was a "big mistake," and watching votes trickle in for Bush and Kerry on TV proved a nerve-racking experience. \n"I felt like I was nervous for a while," he said. "When I saw he was pulling ahead, I still felt like I could have made a little difference with my vote. It would mean more in Ohio than Indiana no matter what."\nLarkin, though, was pleasantly surprised Wednesday when Kerry conceded Ohio -- he didn't have to have not voting there on his conscience. Knapp, however, faced a different scenario. She said she still clung to some hope for a Kerry win as she went to sleep in the wee hours of the morning. \n"Honestly, at that time, I was pretty incoherent," she said. "I still thought there might be a chance Kerry could pull through, that Kerry could pull through and win. Obviously, that changed when I awoke."\nSenior Michael Buckley, who is originally from Cincinnati, encountered a dilemma similar to Larkin's. Buckley supported Bush and learned he had registered at IU in mid-October, past the deadline to change it. Instead of voting in a precinct where Bush won by only 2 percent, Buckley voted in Indiana, where Bush won by more than 20 percent of the vote.\n"I was kind of frustrated," Buckley said. "It was hard, but I knew realistically it wouldn't come down to only my vote. My county is predominantly Republican, but it was still kind of hard."\nStill, many students did take advantage of their Ohio home residency, and filed absentee ballots to try and give their candidate an edge. \nSarah Beren, a junior from Toledo, Ohio, sent in her absentee ballot last Wednesday. A Kerry supporter, Beren said she was disappointed by the results, but she was pleased her vote wasn't lost in the shuffle of a runaway race.\n"I really did feel like my vote was counting," Beren said. "In other states without the emphasis on them, you do it just because you want your candidate to win. For me, I really felt it mattered. I was pretty much fixated on (the election). To me, I don't think Ohio is really known for too many historical, monumental things, other than a lot of cornfields. I thought it could be a chance for my state to rise to the occasion, but I gotta say they let me down."\nFreshman Chris Dempsey, a Cincinnati resident who voted for Bush by absentee ballot, said he was pleased to have been part of the deciding state in such an important election.\n"Everyone from my state and my high school friends, they were all getting into the election," Dempsey said. "I think it's safe to assume they just about all voted and if they didn't, there was a reasonable excuse why not," he said. "It's a pretty rewarding feeling knowing everyone was centered on Hamilton County. I know I did my part to re-elect President Bush."\n-- Contact managing editor Gavin Lesnick at glesnick@indiana.edu.