Young voters adjust their ways

The number of young voters in Chapel Hill and Carrboro who voted by absentee ballot jumped by 31 percentage points in the 2004 elections, reflecting a national trend toward less restrictive procedures.

In November’s elections, students received an increased push to vote early by absentee ballot at Morehead Planetarium. Similar policies implemented in other states include early voting, Election Day registration and mail balloting.

“The percentages indicate that absentee and early voting at Morehead was a success,” said Jeremy Spivey, chairman of VoteCarolina, a nonpartisan campus group that led efforts to get more UNC students to vote.

A Harvard University study published in 2004 reveals that 92 percent of college students think more of their peers would vote if registration and voting by absentee ballot were easier.

“More flexibility and fewer barriers without a doubt leads to increased turnout,” said Ivan Frishberg, spokesman for the public research interest group New Voters Project.

Frishberg said the nation has been moving toward early voting, though these efforts have mostly been in the western United States.

National voting statistics indicate that the turnout of young voters is on the rise. The number of voters aged 18 to 29 increased by 1.8 million between 2000 and 2004, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

Frishberg said increases in youth voters on the national level is caused more by young women than by young men. Forty-three percent of women in the national 18-to-24 age group voted in 2000, versus 40 percent of men in the same demographic.

This national trend was reflected in 2004 in Chapel Hill and Carrboro — 40 percent of voters aged 18 to 24 were male and 59 percent were female, according to statistics provided by VoteCarolina.

Voter turnout increased dramatically in the area. While 420 citizens aged 18 to 24 voted in the 2003 municipal election, 8,860 voted in the 2004 election. Because 2004 was a national election, an increase in turnout was expected, but Spivey said he hopes for similarly high numbers in future municipal elections.

“There were 21 times more voters in 2003 than in 2004. Hopefully the turnout next year will be somewhere in between the two,” Spivey said.

Both the Young Democrats and College Republicans encouraged voting via direct interaction with registered students through phone calls and personal visits. Frishberg suggested that the popularity of this technique is on the rise nationally.

“We are going out and finding new voters through in-person registration, and then following up with a knock on the door or a phone call reminding them to turn out to vote,” Frishberg said.

Spivey said VoteCarolina’s focus now is on planning for next November’s municipal election.

“The questions we need addressed at this point are how we get the message out, how we convince students to sacrifice an hour to vote and where is the money going to come from,” Spivey said.

While many students might not recognize their role in town government, Spivey said the Chapel Hill Town Council’s decisions affect students in many ways.

Parking issues, downtown business, campus lighting, planning for Carolina North and management of bike and pedestrian traffic are all focuses of town government.

“The numbers indicate an uphill battle,” Spivey said. “People are working hard early in the year, but we still have quite a lot of work to do.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.