In preparation for Election Day, the College Republicans and College Democrats will flock to Joselyn Plaza on Monday to rally their peers. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., members from both sides of the political spectrum come together to champion voting on Tuesday.
Sarah Ketelhut, director of public relations for College Republicans, suggested the idea for a pre-election event on campus last week. The club will offer free voter guides and their executive board to answer questions.
While sharing opinions on the upcoming election, members contacted wrote about the prevalence of voter apathy and measures the university and students can take to become better-informed voters.
Members from both clubs have been vocal in the days leading up to Election Day. For both the College Republicans and College Democrats, the economy remains the deciding factor for them in the 2012 election.
“I guess the no-brainer, especially in the current time, is the state of our economy,” Republican club member Caroline Melcher wrote in an email. “Social issues are important to me, but especially in this day and age, I put economic, foreign relations and domestic policy on the top of my list.”
Junior Madison Leonard, another member of College Republicans on campus, echoed Melcher’s stance.
“My major concern this election is the economy, as I think it should be for every young person looking ahead to entering the workforce in the next couple of years. With such a crushing deficit and dismal unemployment rates, I think we have to prioritize getting the economy back to a healthier state as issue number one.”
College Democrat member Edward Espinoza’s main concerns for the upcoming election are “the economy, development of alternative energies and the handling of the ‘big three’ spending measures: defense spending, social security and Medicare/Medicaid.”
For College Democrats President Joseph Alfano, poverty and social issues remain at top of his list.
“As great as this country is, I am hurt that we are not doing more to guarantee a future for those that are less well off than we are,” Alfano wrote.
When asked what qualifications were most admirable about their respective candidate, Melcher and Leonard offered Romney’s success in the private sector as a businessman and his strong financial background.
Leonard also added, “[His] experience with a Democratic-majority Congress during his term as Massachusetts’s governor leads me to believe that we could actually create and pass beneficial legislation instead of wasting four years, then later blaming it on Congress.”
Democrat Espinoza offered Obama’s “pragmatism” as an appealing quality. Alfano believed Obama has been aggressive in helping the country with programs that might seem unpopular to some right now.
“College loans are now less costly, the disadvantaged have better access to care and support, women are guaranteed better work protections for equal pay and the world now respects the United States again,” Espinoza wrote. “[Obama] has made mistakes, but I am still impressed by his ability to relate to the common person and try to find common ground.”
The conversation turned to apathetic voters. When examining voter turnout for the past decade, 18 to 24 year olds ranked last in the polls according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University. CIRCLE, a nonprofit organization, stated that during the 2008 presidential election, voter turnout from 18 to 24 year olds increased from the previous election’s 49 percent to 51percent. However, during the 2010 midterm election voter turnout dropped down to 22 percent.
In light of this situation, political science professors Dan Caldwell and Brian Newman commented on how students and Pepperdine could remedy that voter perception.
“Simply based on my conversations with students, the biggest barrier to turning out to vote for Pepperdine students is getting registered to vote,” Newman wrote. “Almost all Seaver students have two residences (local and permanent). Many are not registered yet and need to figure out whether to register locally or back home. It takes some bureaucratic savvy and a bit of forethought to remember to get registered and maybe file for an absentee ballot before the deadlines. The deadline for registering to vote has already passed in most states, including California.”
Furthermore, Caldwell added that SGA should have sponsored some sort of event for the election.
Melcher would like to see more public participation on campus on Election Day and the days leading up to it.
“I’d love to see signs up endorsing candidates and students sporting political garb, such as campaign buttons and t-shirts,” Melcher wrote. “I want the political fever to infect the Pepperdine campus. Let’s use our First Amendment rights to their full extent!”
Espinoza, like his description of Obama, was a bit more pragmatic when it came to improving voting habits in apathetic students. He wrote that voting decides who makes decisions and how those decisions inevitably affect a person.
“Politics is, albeit an immature and dirty sport, the way we discuss the nation’s current matters and how we decide how we will handle those matters, using the policies of one side of the political spectrum or reach a decision through compromise,” Espinoza wrote. “So you should want to get involved in politics.”
Newman gave two pieces of advice to apathetic voters.
“First, consider how government does and will affect your life. Decisions governments (national, state and local) make shape our jobs, careers, schools, families, hobbies and neighborhoods,” Newman wrote. “Second, national and state debts are mounting and you’ll be left with the bill.”
College Republican Leonard wrote that it speaks poorly of Pepperdine as a community that the majority of students will not register to vote this year.
“A major culprit in that plaguing indifference is the utter beauty and peace that surrounds this place that we get to attend school,” Leonard wrote.
On a more relaxed note, the two Democrats and two Republicans offered a quality they admired in their party’s competing candidate. Leonard and Melcher praised Obama’s family values and commitment to his children. Alfano and Espinoza wrote that Romney is a poised and dignified individual who has the appearance of a leader. In a campaign of partisan bickering, both Republican and Democratic members were optimistic that both sides could have fair and balanced discussions without resorting to bickering.
As election time looms students are faced with the very real decision of whom to choose as the next leader of the free world for the next four years. Vote drives and campaign advertisements are in full swing trying to get young people to vote for either candidate, but the big question still remains: Will the youth turn out for the 2012 election?
