Diminishing the apathetic image; college voting

If you are over 18, you need to read this. You need to read this because, like it or not, it has a direct effect on your life. Nov. 5 marks general Election Day, and every election year, the number of eligible voters who go to the polls gets smaller and smaller.Every year, fewer and fewer people choose to have a say in the laws that govern our lives and the officials who enact and enforce these laws. And across all age groups, young adults have shown the sharpest decline in voter turnout. In fact, according to the Federal Election Commission, the number of voters aged 18 to 24 who go to the polls has dropped from 49 percent to 32 percent since 1972. That is only one out of three casting a ballot _ and that is among those who are actually registered.

These statistics have led some analysts to label our generation "apathetic." We have all come across the stereotype _ the members of Gen X and Gen Y have an MTV-attention span and are too busy chatting on their cell phones to care about being good citizens. In a recent Boston Globe article about declining voter turnout, one prominent scholar implied that young people today fail to be as "strongly involved in their communities," as previous generations had been.

I know as well as you do that this is completely wrong. I know it because of the number of people who turn out every year for Kids' Day and the fact that LCS is the largest student organization at Tufts. And this outpouring of community service is not just confined to Tufts.

The number of young people volunteering is at a record high across the nation. A 1999 study conducted by UCLA and the Higher Education Research Institute found that 74 percent of college freshmen nationwide volunteered during their last year of high school, up from 62 percent in 1989. So it is not a question of involvement, because young adults are far from an apathetic bunch.

Unfortunately, I have no quick and easy answers as to why the number of voters has dropped to an all-time low, while the number of volunteers has soared to an all-time high. Analysts have come up with a number of theories _ young people feel that their votes do not matter, we are turned off by negative campaigning and a cynical press, or we just lead lives that are too busy to allow for a quick trip to the polls.

I cannot tell you the exact reason that barely a third of college-age adults cast their votes. But I can tell you a pretty easy way to start reversing the trend _ just get out there and vote. It is that simple.

I know that many students feel that politics has no real place in their lives. We are happy living in our pleasant _ if at times stressful _ bubble of classes, clubs, papers, and parties. It is sometimes easy for all of us to forget that yes, there is life off the Hill.

Yet, virtually any issue you care about can be tied back to politics and our government. Concerned about the environment? Dedicated to achieving equal rights for minorities? The laws and policies that regulate these issues do not just appear out of thin air _ they are enacted by politicians, and politicians are elected by voters. If your biggest worry is your own wallet, how do you think issues like rent control and student loans are decided? It is all politics, and it is everywhere.

Students often remark that politicians just do not seem to care about the issues that matter to us. It only makes sense, though. Trying to win over the youngest segment of the voting population is not worthwhile if less than a third of them are going to show up come Election Day.

It's much more sensible to concentrate on, say, the elderly population, who historically turn out at the polls in strong force. Hence all the talk this Election Year about prescription drug plans, health care, and social security. Politicians, logically, want to keep their jobs, and if these are the issues that will get them into office, then these are the issues that will be top priority once they arrive there.

Imagine, then, what a difference it would make if every student took the time on Nov. 5 to vote in the general election. Imagine if the three out of four students who volunteer every year decided to extend their involvement outside of their communities and take a bigger role in affecting change. Politicians would have no choice but to listen to us if we were a viable presence at the polls.

It is easier than you think, too. If you are registered at home, just contact your town clerk to have an absentee ballot sent to you _ but do it soon, because in some towns, it can take weeks to process.

Many students find it much more convenient to switch their registration to their school address. As a student living in Massachusetts for more than half the year, you are eligible to register as a Massachusetts voter; an alternative that makes a lot of sense, since few of us have the opportunity to make the trek home on a Tuesday in November.

Think about it _ you spend most of the academic year, maybe even your summers, here. You are in college. You are independent. And, those apron strings have been cut. And most importantly of all, chances are that the elections here in Medford/Somerville are going to affect you a lot more over your four years at Tufts than the local elections back home.

This week marks National Voter Registration Week, and campuses across the country are working to register as many voters as possible and get them out to the polls. Here at Tufts, there will be tables in the dining halls where you can take a minute to fill out a registration form and become a Massachusetts voter. There will be registration until Oct. 16, the deadline for eligibility to vote in the general election.

Come Nov. 5, we have the chance to make history and prove to politicians that we do care about what happens in our communities. And all it takes is a trip to the polls.

Madeline Medeiros is a senior majoring in sociology