Even though college-aged residents of Athens have adequate opportunities and resources to vote, turnout stats are still disappointingly low.
Voter turnout for Ohio University students is abysmally low.
Only 62 voters out of the 7,876 registered to vote on OU’s Athens campus cast a ballot during last November’s election, according to records from the Athens County Board of Elections.
Students can vote early, have an absentee ballot mailed directly to their residence halls or get their permanent legal addresses changed to Athens.
“They don’t feel like they’re qualified because they’re transients,” said Athens Mayor Paul Wiehl. “There is no real grade attached to it, and they’re busy with classes.”
In the last midterm election, when Ohioans elected their governor in 2010, about 11.66 percent of the 10,967 students registered to vote on campus voted, according to Board of Elections records.
“Students are temporary residents of the community, so on local issues, they don’t have much involvement,” said Richard Vedder, an OU distinguished professor emeritus of economics and a 49-year resident of Athens. “They don’t care much. There’s not much to be gained from voting – what difference does it make who the county auditor or the county treasurer is?”
OU’s political party affiliates either try to combat that apathy — or work around it.
“I think (student turnout) is consistently low because a lot of students do not think their vote will count or just don’t care about politics in general,” said Jenna Moore, president of OU Democrats.
Moore said her organization has been regularly calling registered voters to remind them of Election Day and their nearest polling locations, as well as going door-to-door around Athens.
Kelly Sheerer, president of the OU College Republicans, said her organization has been using its call center this year to contact year-round Athens residents as opposed to students.
“Unfortunately, the problem with the lack of local student voters is a lack of interest,” Sheerer said. “They might want to vote, but they don’t see Athens as their place to vote. That’s the main problem.”
Turnout among older residents tends to be higher than turnout among younger residents in general, Vedder said.
“For students, thinking about government policies hasn’t been part of their broader life experience,” Vedder said. “But voting becomes like smoking cigarettes — it’s habit-forming. Once you start voting, you feel you have sort of a civic obligation which gets more ingrained the older you get.”
Debra Quivey, director of the Athens County Board of Elections, said she notices far more student voters coming in her office to vote in presidential election years.
“If you’re truly interested in voting in Athens County, there’s really no excuse nowadays,” Quivey said. “You can change your official address to your dorm residence now via email, in person or phone — it’s so easy. And if you’ve got an absentee ballot you need help with, we will absolutely help you.”
Quivey said she has not seen many students pass through her office yet this year, possibly because most students voting in town choose to go to precincts near their residence halls.
“For the people who say ‘why don’t you target students more often,’ well, it’s not our job to target students. We are just a polling location,” Quivey said.
“I really speak about this in a non-political way, I speak about this as the director of a board of elections: You have plenty of time to vote, and if you really want to vote, you’re going to make the effort,” Quivey said. “Whether students register to vote here in Athens or absentee to their home state, it is not difficult to do.”
@MCTilton
mt522913@ohio.edu
