During its student voter registration campaign, the University
of California Student Association hoped to register 20,000 students
systemwide for the statewide special election.
But as the deadline for registration came and went, it was only
able to motivate 10,000 students to register.
Attempts to motivate students to vote are in full force across
the state as the Nov. 8 special election fast approaches. Some say
these attempts are much needed in light of traditionally low
turnout for special elections, and for youth voters in general.
UCSA organizing director Ruth Obel-Jorgensen said trying to
register students for the special elections was particularly hard
because many students were not interested in ballot measures
receiving low levels of publicity. Some students didn’t even
know that there is a special election going on, Obel-Jorgensen
said.
John Travis, professor of political science at Humboldt State
University and president of the California Faculty Association,
said that fewer people will vote on Nov. 8 than for regularly
scheduled elections, and that voters aged 18-24 vote the least in
special elections.
“Past practice has said that you spend a lot of money (on
special elections) and not a lot of people show up to the
polls,” Travis said.
UCLA political science professor Lynn Vavreck said voter turnout
is traditionally low for special elections because they are not as
interesting as regular elections.
“There’s no candidate races on the ballot and the
issues are difficult for people to understand,” Vavreck
said.
Fifth-year international development studies student Baylee
Decastro, who has been fliering on campus against Proposition 73,
said she has seen a mix of students ranging from those who are very
knowledgeable about propositions to those who don’t know
there is a special election. But when students do find out about
the propositions and how it could affect them, the issues mobilize
many of them to vote, Decastro said. She added that the majority of
students she has stopped said they plan to vote.
Third-year ecology, behavior and evolution student Lucy Tran
said she makes it a point to vote in every election and the special
election will be no different.
“There’s some issues on the ballot that I really
care about so I want to make a point to make my voice heard. I want
to feel like I have some control and voting is a way to do
that,” Tran said. “Also if I don’t vote then I
can’t complain about the results.”
Some students say they are just too busy to find out about the
propositions. Third-year biology student Linda Quach said she is
registered, but does not plan to vote in the special elections
because of time constraints.
“I’m not interested in politics. Not voting is a
mixture of apathy and not having enough time. I have midterms right
now and I don’t have time to look up what the propositions
are,” Quach said.
Young people like Quach have been turning out less and less for
elections. From 1972 to 2000, voter turnout for those under age 30
steadily decreased from 55 percent to only 40 percent according to
the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and
Engagement. Turnout among young people ages 18-24 significantly
trails turnout percentages for all other age groups, by as much as
25 percent. Vavreck said youth are less likely to vote because they
tend to move more than older adults and are less likely to have
jobs, which translates to less interest in some major election
issues such as income tax and social security. Vavreck added that a
lot of youth just haven’t habitualized the act of voting.
Concern with low voter turnout has prompted the creation of many
campaigns to motivate young people to participate in the electoral
process. Campaigns such as MTV’s Rock the Vote helped raise
presidential election turnout for youth ages 18-24 from 36 percent
in 2000 to 47 percent in 2004, though Vavreck said she does not
expect such trends to continue.
Obel-Jorgensen hopes the efforts of UCSA will be enough to keep
UC student turnout high for all elections.
“Consistent engagement in the electoral process is
important. If we’re not continually showing that we have
electoral power by consistently voting, then legislators
won’t care about us,” Obel-Jorgensen said.