By Brooke Rieder

Sometimes walking into the local precinct on Election Day can feel more like entering an old folk's home. One almostwonders if some of the people there will even be around long enough to see another presidential term.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau's Voting and Registration Report, while an impressive three-quarters of senior citizens made it to the polls in 2004, less than half of registered voters aged 18-24 cast a ballot for the 2004 presidential election. Such youth make up 13 percent of the eligible voting population, yet they only constitute 9 percent of all voters.

On the other hand, senior citizens represent 31 percent of eligible voters, and still manage to make up 35 percent of all voters.

Statistics show time and again that young adults are not making voting a priority.

A disheartening one-fourth of registered young people across the United States came out to vote in 2006.

If that sounds bad, Utah is worse.

Utah's number of youth who actually vote is significantly below the already low national averages.

According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, 17 percent of all voters aged 18-28 made it to the polls on Election day 2006.

Reasons given by college-aged students for inactivity range from misunderstanding the process, to sentiments that their vote doesn't matter or that the issues don't affect them.

Although BYU students experience some of the same obstacles to voting as other college students, the university faces some unique challenges.

BYU has an unusually large number of out-of-state students with allegiance to their citizenship in home states.

"A lot of students prefer to be registered in their home states and vote absentee," said Jon Mott, faculty adviser to the College Republicans. "It's been an issue in the past because some kids have wanted to get involved in local politics, but some have not because they still want to be attached to their home states."

The College Republicans welcome local government enthusiasts as well as those with political heartstrings elsewhere.

"Our main objective as a club is to help students learn of opportunities to participate and become effective in the political process," Mott said.

UVSC's students have historically been more willing than BYU students to register in Utah and vote locally.

Almost half of youth who don't vote say it's because they're not interested in politics.

Although Mott recognizes why students feel disconnected from national politics, he is surprised at the apathy toward local government.

"If you think about Provo City Council, they make all kinds of decisions about zoning, property tax, parking on the streets," Mott said. "There are all sorts of issues that local elected officials decide, and if students were more involved they could certainly influence those decisions."

Mott said if students voted in local elections, they could potentially have significant impact on the results of elections.

"When you look at municipal elections, overall turnout is often low, 20 percent overall," Mott said. "A handful of 50 to 100 votes could even swing an election to the other direction."

Though the numbers currently coming out to vote may seem less than impressive, the pool of eligible young voters is large.

"The youth demographic is huge right now," said Abby Kiesa, youth coordinator at the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. "Their untapped potential is tremendous."

Kiesa said student interest could also make an impact on how candidates choose to campaign.

"Candidates don't spend a lot of time on college students because it would go to waste," Kiesa said. "But just imagine what power youth would have to influence elections if that three-quarters of the population that doesn't vote, suddenly did."

Utah has reacted to their low numbers of youth voters and launched enthusiastic campaigns to stimulate student interest in voting.

In 2006, the lieutenant governor sponsored a massive mobilization effort targeting higher education institutions. To spread election fever, the campaign created materials for students including interactive Web sites, DVDs and television commercials. They wrapped a PT Cruiser in the "Leave your Print" logo and stocked it full of voter registration materials, sample voting machines and T-shirts before visiting each college, university and technical school in Utah.

Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert's motto was "I don't care if you register as a Democrat, a Republican or a Martian, as long as you register to vote!"

The effort was a huge success, and thousands of young Utahns registered. But come Election Day, the demographic showed no signs of turnout increase.

"We literally removed every barrier to youth voting," said Joe Demma, Herbert's chief of staff. "We worked really hard in the community, and to not see results on Election Day is depressing. But it doesn't mean we're going to stop doing it."

Demma said he hopes to impress the importance of voting onto the generation of young voters, and emphasize that voting is a citizen's responsibility.

"Your best outlet for communication with the world around you is through the ballot box," Demma said. "Voting is the very core of the democratic republic. People around the world wait days and risk death to vote and express their opinion. And we make it literally effortless."

The process of registering to vote in Utah can take less than five minutes.

Located in the back of the White Pages phonebook is a voter registration form that can be photocopied and completed. The same form can be printed out from the Utahcountyonline.com Web site. These forms can be mailed to the Utah County Clerk's Office. Another option is to visit the clerk's office and fill out a form, and submit the form in person. The clerk's office is located at 100 E. Center St., Room 3100, Provo UT 84606-3106.

Yet another option for students is BYUSA's voter registration drive. In the spring, BYUSA mans tables in Brigham Square with voter registration materials for interested students.

Once registered to vote, the registration is good for life. The only occasions that require editing the registration are a change of name, a move or change in party affiliation.

For those who are registered in other states, absentee voting is just as simple. An absentee ballot application and request form can be obtained at your state's Web site or at Declareyourself.com.

These options can take just a few minutes, yet 23 percent of college-aged students said they did not vote for lack of time.

Another quarter of non-voting college students said they did not vote because they missed registration deadlines. Utah law requires that registration forms be postmarked by 30 days before the election, but if registration is presented in person at the clerk's office, deadlines are less stringent.

The next voting opportunity will be the municipal primaries Sept. 11.

Copyright Brigham Young University 4 Sep 2007