It is common knowledge that college students don’t have the best track record when it comes to turning up at the polls. In fact, 43 percent of college students haven’t even registered to vote. If you are part of that 43 percent, then drop the paper and go to www.studentvote.org to register. If you have registered, it is important and sometimes complicated to decide who or what you want to vote for; here are a few tips to help you make the right choice on Nov. 4:
1. Scrutinize your sources of information. The women on “The View” are entertainers and comedians — not experts on foreign affairs and politics. Hollywood is not an unbiased, or even educated, source of political information.
2. Don’t think that you can just fall back on a political party. Don’t put off looking over the ballot because you intend to vote for anyone or anything that isn’t with the Democrats or vice versa.
3. UVU offers a variety of different newspapers daily. Read a different paper every day, or as often as you can. News reporting organizations have their own agendas. Reading or watching news from different organizations is a good way to learn different sides of the same story.
4. Talk to different groups of people. Do you know a housewife, businessperson, educator, or someone in the transportation business? A person who has served in Iraq will probably have insights and opinions about the war in Iraq separate from those of the five o’clock news. Talking to people involved in different industries and parts of society is one of the best ways to get a realistic view on a variety of issues.
5. Most importantly, take the time to be educated about the ballot. Go to http://www.co.uintah.ut.us/ to view a sample ballot. It will tell you everything that is going to be on the ballot and provide a basic explanation of what each item is about.
In reality it would be great if more college students voted this year. It would be even greater if students were educated at the polls, forcing politicians to start taking our demographic seriously.
