Election Day is quickly arriving in the Brazos Valley and political organizations on campus are preparing by helping to ensure students are registered and well informed come Nov. 7.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, less than a quarter of college-aged Texans, between 18 and 25, participated in the 2012 presidential election. In contrast, 70 percent of Texans 65 and older took part in voting. Turnout for local elections is historically even lower, especially among the 18 to 25 demographic.
Campus political groups such as the College Republicans, the Aggie Democrats and the non-partisan Gig The Vote, as well as individual politically-minded Aggies, are taking steps to increase the number of students who are politically engaged at the local level.
Gig The Vote provides an unbiased angle in encouraging A&M students to vote. The group aims to inform students on local, state and national elections to enhance Aggie representation, according to their website.
Petroleum engineering senior and chair of the College Republicans, David Isenhour said his organization is working to provide relevant information to increase voter turnout among current students.
“The main thing for this election is … conveying the right information,” Isenhour said. “When you’re 18 years old, just out of high school … voting can seem kind of foreign.”
Through on campus tabling events, Isenhour said College Republicans provide students with a variety of information on voting both in Brazos County and their home counties.
“When we table on campus, we provide both a service to people on campus for them to register here to vote in College Station,” Isenhour said. “We also provide them with the information that they can go home, you know for early voting, which I’ve done on many occasions, or you can get an absentee vote.”
Isenhour said he believes it is important for college students to participate at the local level of government because it is their civic duty.
“We have a legal right to do so and the way our government, our system of government works best is when everyone participates in the system,” Isenhour said. “It’s a civic responsibility as an American. It’s something that I firmly believe and something that the College Republicans firmly believe — as Americans it is our obligation to participate in government.”
Political science sophomore August Bell, said while he isn’t associated with a political group on campus, he is passionate about getting students out to vote.
Bell, who has plans to run for office himself one day, said young people who don’t vote are missing their opportunity to directly influence their communities.
“It’s very important for students to vote in local elections because, even though they don’t realize it most of the time, they have a voice in what happens in their local communities,” Bell said. “Often times the number of students or young people that vote in general is fairly low for elections across the board and is always a missed opportunity to have the most direct impact on the issues they care the most about.”