College students tend to vote at the lowest rate nationwide, but students and University administration want to alter that statistic in the 2008 election.

At freshman convocation in August, Chancellor Richard Herman encouraged students to register to vote, and to turn out on election day. As the election drew nearer, he also sent a mass e-mail to students encouraging them to exercise their right to vote.

“Unfortunately, voter participation for a long time has been way down, and this is a way to get out and change that very low voter turnout rate,” Herman said.

He estimates about 5,000 students have registered to vote, and wants to “rock the vote” by having a 100 percent turnout at the polls.

University political science professor Brian Gaines said people under the age of 21 tend to vote at the lowest rate, particularly because of inexperience, as they miss deadlines or forget to register.

“The way the economy is going we really need some change,” said Christian Ovalle, junior in Engineering. “Older people get out more, and I think students should take the initiative and make some difference for this country by voting.”

Students registered to vote in Champaign or in Illinois in general might not feel motivated to vote because they think the outcome in Illinois is already decided.

Erika Lans, junior in Media, said she registered to vote in her home state of Virginia because she felt the election was already decided in Illinois.

“I heard that Virginia was a battleground state, and I wanted my Democratic vote to count there, because I knew it wouldn’t make a difference in Illinois,” Lans said.

Still, people are expected to turn out, regardless of outcome projections.

“People will not vote because they’re going to make a difference in the presidential race, because there is about a 99.99 percent certainty Obama will win Illinois,” Gaines said. “Voting is the right of citizens of a democracy, and a right many people don’t have.”

He also said there is very little uncertainty about who the winners will be from Illinois, both in the presidential race, but also in elections for Congress and Illinois State Representatives. However, one point of interest is the constitutional convention.

“They should vote if they’re paying attention to lower ballot items, specifically the constitutional convention,” Gaines said. “There’s a good deal of uncertainty in Champaign County about the outcome of that.”

Even though college students sometimes fail to turn out and vote, excitement has been building about the election. Registered student organizations had booths on the Quad to register students to vote.

“As we’re becoming more educated about society, we need to become active in society by getting involved and voting,” said Chessa Kilby, freshman in LAS.

Herman said he hopes students will still make it to the polls even though Election Day is also a school day.

“Fundamentally, one can hardly think of a greater privilege than to vote,” Herman said.

Why not to vote

Elections are about numbers.

In the national election, the candidate with 270 electoral votes out of 538 wins. The local candidate with the majority of ballot votes wins. But according to Brian Gaines, University political science professor, when the numbers are skewed, an extra vote on the winning side may not matter.

“A person who thinks strictly in terms of costs and benefits of action will ask themselves, ‘Will my vote make a difference? Will I make or break a tie in any contest?'” Gaines said. “This is a particular election where the answer is ‘probably not.'”

He said the reason behind this is Illinois’ status as Sen. Barack Obama’s home state.

“Anybody who’s paying attention probably knows that Obama will win the state of Illinois whether he will win the presidency or not,” Gaines said. “This is maybe the least suspenseful state in the country.”

William Maulbetsch, senior in LAS, said he agreed.

“As far as the rest of the country goes, I don’t think there’s a place your vote could count less than in Illinois,” Maulbetsch said.

However, Alex Hillmer-McGee, freshman in LAS, said he disagreed with their assessments.

“(People will not vote) just because they feel like Sen. Obama is already going to win the state,” Hillmer-McGee said. “But even though Sen. Obama might win the state, there are still state senators, state representatives, county officials and city officials that will affect you even more than the president will.”

Although this may be true, Gaines said no local race is expected to be heavily contested.

“For voters in Champaign County there’s really almost nothing that’s expected to be close this time,” he said. “There’s a good point for a person who’s marginally involved in politics … to think about what’s on the ballot and say, ‘Well, all these races are already over. There’s nothing competitive or interesting, so why should I go through the trouble of getting in line?'” Gaines said.

Despite numerous reasons for not voting, civic participation was still in the forefront of students’ minds.

If all citizens thought their vote did not matter, one vote could sway an election, Maulbetsch said.

“It’s symbolically important to vote,” he said.

Voting symbolically is similar to what Gaines described as the “conventional civics book answer” to why someone should vote.

“There’s a duty that is part of being in a democracy that you ought to feel responsible to vote and take part in the process,” he said. “To some extent, I think that is what motivates a lot of people – the sense that voting is not something you can choose to do, like going to a movie. It’s much more important.”

Gaines said there are political scientists who run numbers on whether one vote could make or break a tie in an election.

“It’s always one times 10 to the minus 25,” he said. “(The chances are) like winning the lottery.” But, he added that most people do not think strictly statistically.

“There’s a simple logic to personal calculations of costs and benefits that suggests it doesn’t make sense to vote most of the time, but hardly anyone acts that way.”