Youth, county voter turnout up from 2000

Across the United States, younger voters turned out in higher numbers than in 2000 Tuesday, and Monroe County youth were no exception.\nThough national Associated Press exit polls indicated less than one in 10 voters were between the ages of 18 and 24, more total youth voters turned out than in the 2000 election. But because more voters of all ages increased, the youth voter percentage remained low. \nBut in Monroe County, the youth vote increase outstripped the total increase in voter turnout by a wide margin.\nMore than 21 percent more students showed up at campus precinct polls than in the 2000 election, compared to about a 5 percent increase in overall voter turnout county-wide, according to the Monroe County Clerk's office. This occurred despite only a 2 percent increase in enrollment, according to IU Student Information and Fiscal Services.\nIndiana Public Interest Research Group worker Vanessa Caruso, who is also an IDS employee, said she thinks voter registration drives helped get students fired up for the democratic process. \n"We started by getting people to register and had over 4,000 students pledge their vote," Caruso said. "The local election is not out of reach for young people, and that's why I think students really showed up to vote this year." \nYoung voters showed their concern for a change both nationally and locally with a democratic majority vote.\n"There were just simply more democrats in this county, and victories in the county showed that," absentee board member William Rike said. "Democrats swept the county council at-large."\nLake and Monroe counties were the only two of 92 counties in Indiana to go to Kerry. \nThough both parties pushed the younger crowd to cast their vote for the election, most voted for Sen. John Kerry, said Political Science professor Edward Carmines.\n"The democratic party really excited the youth vote because of the war in Iraq, so I assume that's why youth voted for Kerry," Carmines said. "Republicans made a strong effort to mobilize students to vote for Bush as for reasons such as the economy and the war."\nThose surveyed by the AP showed youth tended to vote for Kerry, favoring interest in the economy and jobs. \nThough this year's polls showed improvement, the fight against apathy has a ways to go. The total number of students living on-campus who voted was still less than 25 percent, according to an Office of the Registrar report.\n"Young people just don't vote because most issues don't concern them and candidates don't speak of issues concerning young voters because they aren't interested," Political Science professor Gerald Wright said. "It's like a big circle because young people don't care about voting, so issues that interest them aren't talked about."\nWright said citizens don't usually express their concerns about issues until their early 30s, when they are forced to pay taxes and send their kids to school.\n"People are ignoring (the youth) because they don't make any noise and no one is going to listen until (the youth) does," Wright said. "Someone needs to tell you to get off your fanny and vote."\n-- Contact staff writer Nellie Summerfield at nsummerf@indiana.edu.