Young voters to play large role in election
By: Joshua Lemkin
Posted: 11/3/08
There will be 29 million voters between the ages of 18 and 24 who will
be eligible to vote in the upcoming Presidential election. Only a day
away, the young voters are expected to be more influential in the final
outcome than in previous years. To highlight the importance of youth
voting, ConnPIRG showed a documentary titled, "18 in 08" on Sunday in
the Student Union Theater.
UConnPIRG President Alex Nguyen explained that the documentary was meant to show the "importance of student voting."
"[College students] vote notoriously in small numbers," Nguyen said.
Prior to the film, Sean Sullivan, who is currently running for Congress
in Connecticut's 2nd district, spoke to the audience. Sullivan
encouraged young people to know that "it takes hard work to get where
we are today," urging students to think for themselves and "take
control of [their] own destiny."
The film's director, David D. Burstein, said he created the film to
determine "what it means to participate" [in an election] and be a
United States citizen. Burstein spent two-and-a-half years traveling
around the country, accumulating more than 100 hours of footage.
"Media adds a level of transparency," Burstein said, and is increasingly influential in presidential elections.
The documentary featured notable politicians voicing their opinions
about youth voting, including Barack Obama, John Kerry, George Bush,
Jeb Bush and Joe Lieberman. The film also highlighted interviews with
young voters who believed that their vote would not matter - a view
that ConnPIRG is adamantly trying to break.
The documentary stressed that one vote can make a difference. Even 1,000 votes can sway an election, the film said.
Despite ConnPIRG's attempts to raise voter awareness, fewer than 30
peopled attended the event. Jennifer Miller, president of the UConn
College Republicans, noted that the low attendance was "upsetting."
She said she thought Burstein did a "pretty good job," but that she
"would have liked to see more conservative or Republican viewpoints."
Nguyen mentioned that students should still value their votes despite the opinion that Connecticut is not a swing state.
"We forget that senate and congressional races are won by small numbers," Nguygen said.
Lauren Ellis, president of UConn College Democrats, said that the film
was successful in capturing the "feelings of youth voters" and did so
in an "interesting and articulate way."
"[The film] reminded me why I'm doing what I'm doing," she said.
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