{"id":605,"date":"2008-09-25T13:15:31","date_gmt":"2008-09-25T18:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/masonvotes.gmu.edu\/blog\/?p=605"},"modified":"2008-10-02T13:16:34","modified_gmt":"2008-10-02T18:16:34","slug":"election-interest-is-challenging-for-some-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/2008\/09\/25\/election-interest-is-challenging-for-some-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Election interest is challenging for some students"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jamie Gage, United Press International<\/a><\/p>\n

With less than six weeks to go, it would seem that the election is the one topic on every American\u2019s mind. But, that\u2019s not necessarily the case. For various reasons some students are having a hard time getting involved in the election. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is so much associated with the election, I find it hard to even start to educate myself about it,\u201d said Kristen Ryan, a senior at George Mason University. \u201cI know some of what the candidates believe in, but I don\u2019t know everything. I have an interest but it\u2019s not the only thing that I care about.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are also some students who don\u2019t have any particular interest in the election.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not even registered to vote,\u201d said Allie Phass, a junior. \u201cI know what is going on, but it\u2019s not interesting to me. I don\u2019t want to say I don\u2019t care, but growing up the elections were never something my parents really talked about. I think that influenced me a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the George Mason campus, it\u2019s hard to not get bombarded by one of many volunteers attempting to get people registered to vote. These volunteers want college students to take an active role in deciding their futures. <\/p>\n

\u201cGetting students registered to vote is only part of the process,\u201d said Jacob Plumb, a volunteer. \u201cWe really are trying to get the students interested in the election and interested in their own future.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cMany of the decisions that are made by the president will directly affect the students and we want the students to take a part in helping to decide their futures,\u201d said Plumb. \u201cIf 100 percent of people ages 18 to 25 voted, they would completely control the election. That\u2019s something to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Viewing the candidate\u2019s web sites is a good way to get information and watching different political events on the television is another.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I go online and read about the platforms that the candidates have,\u201d said Ryan. \u201cI feel the need to educate myself, because I want to be able to vote and know who I am voting for. I also watch the political events that occur because they are exciting and really show the candidates what they are made of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowing is half the battle,\u201d said senior Melissa Devine, a nursing major. \u201cI want to be educated, because I want to know who I am voting for and I want to make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

From: The Voice of Young Voters<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jamie Gage, United Press International With less than six weeks to go, it would seem that the election is the one topic on every American\u2019s mind. But, that\u2019s not necessarily the case. For various reasons some students are having a hard time getting involved in the election. \u201cThere is so much associated with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":608,"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605\/revisions\/608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}