College Students and the Vote

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

For what it's worth, Vermont, the first state admitted after the original 13 colonies, joined the Union in March 1791, and has participated in every election since 1792. While current-day Vermont is reliably Democratic in national elections, it is interesting to note that from the founding of the modern Republican Party in 1854 through the election of 1988, Vermont went Republican in every election except 1964, when it voted for Lyndon Johnson over Barry Goldwater. In 1992, Vermont broke this tradition, voting for Bill Clinton over George Bush, and has been “blue” ever since.

Darn crunchy flatlanders with their birkenstocks and tiedyed shirts..I always forget that once you get out of Stowe, Burlington, Essex, Middlebury, Manchester and other desirable places in VT...it's mostly poor rednecks..

 

[Marc]

So much for the not being political thing.

 

[awf170]

I was disturbed today to learn my 19 y/o college student has not yet registered to vote and didn't know which presidential candidate was Rep and which was Dem. She hadn't 'gotten around' to researching. The reality is as a (senior) paramedic student who is also working to support herself she has not had or made the time to get informed. How many other college students out there are in the same boat?

I sent her the link to RockTheVote.com and she is now awaiting her absentee ballot. 18-29 year olds represent 1/5 of the voting public. I don't have an answer, I was just shocked at how little she knew about the current political arena.... Do the community colleges (she is at Southern Maine) do outreach like I understand larger colleges do? Is there a friendly website out there that can help educate young people on the issues and candidate platform differences? Can this thread possible remain unpolitical? (Lock if necessary.)

Wow, and I thought I was ignorant. I mean I still am, but at least there is worse.

If she knows that little about the issues, it's probably better she doesn't vote. :smash:

Amen. That's why I plan not to vote. Plus the democrats are going to go have there usual MA slaughtering, so not like it even matters if I vote. Yeah, I know that is probably one of the worse attitudes to have if life, but in the circumstance is it pretty true.

IMO voting without a solid knowledge of all major candidates is a lot worse than not voting.

 

[noski]

Darn crunchy flatlanders with their birkenstocks and tiedyed shirts..I always forget that once you get out of Stowe, Burlington, Essex, Middlebury, Manchester and other desirable places in VT...it's mostly poor rednecks..

:-D LOL I may be one of those poor rednecks, but I get to see 3 of the east's best ski mountains every single day...

 

[thetrailboss]

Can't relate...I vote in pretty much every election and am 28. I was one of 160 people who voted in my town (of about 4,000 voters) for the Primary two weeks ago...

 

[deadheadskier]

:-D LOL I may be one of those poor rednecks, but I get to see 3 of the east's best ski mountains every single day...

....and not ski them

 

[noski]

....and not ski them

Someone has to work on the bluebird days you know....

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

So much for the not being political thing.

We should have a politics forum..

 

[deadheadskier]

I've voted in every presidential election that I've been old enough for. In Vermont, I voted in most smaller elections as well. Every other state I've lived in, I haven't paid much attention to local politics.

 

[Marc]

We should have a politics forum..

Or you could start your own message board and invite AZ members there for the purpose of politcal discussion.

 

[deadheadskier]

I for one am glad there isn't a politics forum, even though I've posted about a dozen times in this thread :lol:

 

[hammer]

Or you could start your own message board and invite AZ members there for the purpose of politcal discussion.

Wasn't that done already? I remember checking the new site and there weren't too many posts there...

 

[BeanoNYC]

We spend at leat 15 minutes a class speaking about the current election. One of my students turned 18 today. We registered him to vote via rockthevote.com. Good vibes.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

We spend at leat 15 minutes a class speaking about the current election. One of my students turned 18 today. We registered him to vote via rockthevote.com. Good vibes.

As a teacher..are you allowed to say who you want to win??

 

[thetrailboss]

We should have a politics forum..

Go ahead and start one if you want...then you can moderate it and put out the fires....

 

[noski]

We spend at leat 15 minutes a class speaking about the current election. One of my students turned 18 today. We registered him to vote via rockthevote.com. Good vibes.

I think that is a great thing. My daughter graduated HS in her junior year. Maybe they would have done something like this in senior year. I didn't think about that. Do high schools even teach a proper civics class anymore? In the 70s we had U.S. & World History.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Go ahead and start one if you want...then you can moderate it and put out the fires....

What fires..it would be nice to have one with no moderation..

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I think that is a great thing. My daughter graduated HS in her junior year. Maybe they would have done something like this in senior year. I didn't think about that. Do high schools even teach a proper civics class anymore? In the 70s we had U.S. & World History.

I had AP American government when I was a senior and I got 3 college credits for doing well on the AP test..

 

[Marc]

What fires..it would be nice to have one with no moderation..

I've never seen an unmoderated poitical forum without name calling and flame wars.

 

[ed-drum]

Young people vote? They don't care about anything but "pop" culture. It's not their fault, tv brainwashing is subtle. Now, when the draft is re-instated, that's going to get their attention. And the draft WILL come back. How many of you have their selective service card? I still carry my Geneva Convention card in my wallet, decades later.