Few students in residence halls make it to the polls

by Jeremy Boren
Staff Writer

Ohio University students affect two trends in the Athens election scene: high voter registration and low voter turnout, city officials said.

The Nov. 6 city election likely will follow that historic trend because of a race with three uncontested wards and a shortage of "hot" issues, said Kathy Kyle, director of the Athens County Elections Board since 1993. But the city council president, city treasurer and the first ward council seats are open to challengers and could stir some student interest.

The Athens precincts accounting for all OU students in residence halls show that large numbers of students register to vote, but fewer cast a ballot on Election Day.

Returns from 1997 revealed that about 5.4 percent of registered students in the residence halls made it to the polls. Similarly, in 1999, about 10,000 campus precinct residents were registered to vote, but 7 percent or 728 people voted. Precincts with resident halls include a few non-student residences in some cases.

OU's residence halls can accommodate about 7,000 students. Kyle said the number of registered students living in residence halls is deceiving because of the state's slow voter tracking methods.

City election officials can take up to eight years to remove a student from their files. Voters are removed when they fail to vote in Ohio for two consecutive presidential elections or register elsewhere.

According to national surveys, about one-third of people in the country move at least once within a three-year period, and the same number might apply to Athens, said Guido Stempel, political communications professor.

Stempel said the student voters are lacking because of a sometimes apathetic and transitory young electorate.

"The difficulty for students is staying informed and a (lack of) a huge self-interest," he said.

OU senior Mark Puskar, president of College Democrats, helped register 43 voters at college gate Monday afternoon.

He said his group was not as successful this year because the election falls on a year without a presidential or congressional election.

University officials also worked to increase voter registration.

Terry Hogan, OU dean of students, attempted to spread student voter registration with application and information stations scattered around campus. Since the late 1990s, Ohio has required universities to help students register to vote in general elections.

The deadline to register to vote in this year's election was yesterday, but the elections office will continue to accept voter change of address cards and provide provisional voting Nov. 6 for those registered in other parts of Ohio.