URI students shed light on presidential picks

By: Lindsay Lorenz

Posted: 2/6/08

02/06/08 - Yesterday marked Super Tuesday, when 23 states held their primary elections and caucuses for presidential nominees. Although Rhode Island's presidential primary is not until March 4, many URI students' home states held elections yesterday, including Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

"Super Tuesday is the closest we have to a national primary because 23 [states] will pick delegates to represent their candidates at the [party] convention," said Maureen Moakley, a political science professor at the University of Rhode Island.

"What's different about this election is the primaries and the process has gotten a lot more coverage," Moakley said. "We will probably have some of the highest turnouts."

She credited the use of media venues such as Youtube.com for motivating younger people to go out and vote. She stressed the importance of students being registered and knowing where to vote.

"Since 2004, participation involving young people has been higher - the highest since 1980," she explained. "We expect those trends to continue; that's a very good sign."

So, are students doing their civic duty? A sampling of URI students yesterday showed that many were unaware of yesterday's primaries.

Greg Olfky, a freshman from Boston, said he didn't know that his home state's primary was yesterday.

He said he has not yet registered to vote, but he plans to soon and will vote in November, despite feeling apathetic about politics.

His friend, Brian Veyera, a Rhode Island resident and Republican who was also unaware of Super Tuesday, said he's not inclined to vote for any of the Republican nominees.

"I don't agree with any of the candidates," he said. "But I'm still going to vote Republican no matter what."

The 18-year-old jokingly said that he intends to write in comedian Stephen Colbert on his ballot.

Sarah Sczepanksi, a registered Republican from Massachusetts, said she was knew her state's primary elections were yesterday, but she didn't request an absentee ballot.

"I didn't have enough time. If I was home I would have," she said.

The junior, who spent last semester in Italy, said she's still researching which candidate is best for her, and she said she keeps an eye on candidates by reading newspapers and watching the news.

"Our generation is going to be the next one that has everything riding on their shoulders," she said, adding that she plans to vote in the November election.

Sczepanski is not alone in her search for the right nominee. Christina Nasca, 21, of Vermont, is also a Republican, but is still unsure which candidate she favors. Nasca, a former College Republican who lobbied for candidates in previous years, said she's been researching the candidates by listening to the radio.

"It affects us," she said. "People do a lot of complaining, might as well do something about it."

Nasca said she plans to vote by absentee ballot in the presidential election, but that some of her friends think requesting an absentee ballot is an inconvenience for out-of-state students. To remedy the issue, Nasca said some of her friends registered in Rhode Island to avoid the extra work.

Rhode Island resident Chance Pates said he doesn't plan to vote in the state's primary elections next month.

"I'll probably hold out until November," he said. The 23-year-old is a registered Democrat and is favoring candidate Barack Obama.

Pates said he likes to be in-the-know when it comes to politics "just to help change the country." He said he forms his opinions from watching MSNBC and searching the Internet.

Josh Ortiz-Fisher said he's unsatisfied with his party's potential presidents. The junior from Rhode Island said he is registered as a Democrat, "but I'm having second thoughts," particularly because of the possibility of increased taxes under a Democratic president.

Ortiz-Fisher said it's important for young people to vote, especially college students because "there's a lot of us. One college can change a whole voting section."