IN DEPTH
Road to the White House Elections '96 bring out the student vote
by Chalkings peppered the campus urging students to register to vote. Naomi Campus political organizations created a non-partisan agreement between themselves and each group set out on a mission — to register as many Blum voters as possible before the government deadline. They stormed the dorms, equipped with voter registration slips. "The registration was very successful. We registered approximately 1,000 voters," senior Ronald Spitz a student coordinator for the Weinzapfel campaign said. "They were either first-time voters or they wanted to switch their registration." The elections offered opportunities to students seeking involvement in the political system. Campus organizations, such as College Democrats, College Republics. INPirg and the Youth Vote Coalition, offered students real experience in running a political campaign. Spitz spent 15 to 20 hours a week recruiting volunteers to help with mailings, voter registration and door-to-door literature drops within Bloomington and the larger district. As the election neared, the chalkings increased and supporters for the candidates desperately tried to rally the student body. They held forums and debates to discuss issues they felt were most important to students in the coming year. The 8th District Congressional race between Republican incumbent John N. Hostettler and Democrat John Weinzapfel attracted the most local attention. One of the reasons was the focus on student issues like financial aid. He also had an energized group of students working his campaign, including three student coordinators. Finally, students wanted to be involved in a campaign where they could make a difference. Although Hostettler won the seat, there was still a debate as to how to interpret the student vote. Bloomington was divided into 17 precincts. Thirteen were "mixed" precincts containing both III students and Bloomington residents. The other four encompassed the dorms and were 100 percent student. The voter turnout, however, did not represent the full population of Monroe County. There were 80,110 people registered and 40,719 votes calculated, a 50.83 percent turnout. "I'm 24 and I still haven't registered and I'm not planning to. My vote wouldn't count anyway," said sophomore Brian Simmons. "I don't like the way our government runs, and I don't care to be any part of it.continued
CALENDAR 58
