Youth vote critical Tuesday
Feb. 8, 2008
Columbia resident Bill Lautenschlager votes electronically as campaign worker Jeff Legg explains how to use the system on Tuesday at Memorial Union. Students and Boone County residents voted at Memorial Union on Tuesday.
(Click graphic to enlarge)
Super Tuesday didn’t quite answer the question of which two candidates would represent their parties in the 2008 presidential election, but they did attract plenty of young voters.
On Feb. 5, youth voter turnout tripled or even quadrupled in several states, according to a news release from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
According to the news release, Missouri’s youth vote tripled with more than 190,000 citizens under the age of 30 participating in the primary. Youth voters accounted for 14 percent of all Missouri voters, up 4 percent from 2000.
“Young Americans have been turning out to vote at remarkable rates in these primaries,” CIRCLE Director Peter Levine said. “This reflects their deep concern about the critical issues at stake and the impact of this election on our country’s future.”
In part because of votes from Missouri youth, the state’s Democratic primary was the closest race of the night.
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., beat Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., in Missouri by almost 11,000 votes after trailing Clinton by 12 percent at one point in the night.
Obama squeaked out a win over Clinton largely because of his massive victories in St. Louis, St. Louis County and Kansas City. He also won big in Boone and Nodaway counties, which contain a large student population.
“(Young voters) are turning out a lot more,” MU graduate Zach Rubin said. “I really think that’s going to help out Obama, as I think he has the most appeal to young voters.”
In Boone County, Obama won 60.5 percent of the vote to Clinton’s 37 percent. It was not until most of the county’s results came in that the election could be called in favor of Obama.
Mizzou for Obama Director Glenn Rehn said he could not be more proud of his candidate and excited for the amount of youth support he received.
“It was not a coincidence that Columbia, of all places, made the difference for Obama,” Rehn said. “We were relentless in canvassing for our candidate, making Boone County a concrete example that all that hard work really pays off.”
MU College Democrats President Caitlin Ellis said she was happy to see the impact of the turnout of youth voters in Columbia and nationwide.
“It’s just proof that the age when people can say that young people don’t care and don’t turn out to vote is over,” Ellis said.
In most of the states that held their primaries on Tuesday, more Democrats came out to vote than Republicans. About 58 percent of the 1.4 million Missouri voters asked for a Democratic ballot at the polls, according to CNN.com.
The College Democrats worked to register students to vote.
“Our biggest goal right now is to get more students registered in Columbia where they’re going to be living for the election,” Ellis said.
Drew Nishiyama, a second-year law student at MU, arrived at Campus Lutheran Church at 6 a.m. to cast his vote.
“The youth vote is especially important in this town,” Nishiyama said. “If the college kids don’t come out, it could really change the vote in Missouri.”
— Senior Staff Writer Brad Fischer contributed to this report.
More Feb. 8, 2008 Outlook Stories
- Youth vote critical Tuesday — Super Tuesday didn’t quite answer the question of which two candidates would represent their parties in the 2008 presidential election, ...
- Man flees police in car with flat tires — A man led law enforcement officials on a chase that started in Columbia and ended in Moberly early Thursday morning, ...
- Primaries yield surprising results — So Super Tuesday has come and gone. There is one big question on everyone’s minds: what now? For months, Super ...
- McCain takes Missouri in close race Tuesday — In the shadow of the state Capitol, where state employees smoked and socialized after work, state Rep. Jason Brown, R-Platte ...
- Super Tuesday proves indecisive for Democrats — After Super Tuesday, the two Democratic presidential hopefuls emerged from the fallout of this year’s biggest day of nominating contests ...
Most recent Outlook Stories
- County reports record number of new voters — Missouri is investigating cases of possible voter fraud.
- Columbia not hurt by economy — Officials are concerned by the decrease in sales tax revenue.
- Obama's friend is a poor choice — Weatherman William Ayers heads Obama's campaigns.
- Gubernatorial candidates plan to make college affordable — Both plans will make two-year colleges free to people who qualify.
- Republicans focus on change, youth vote at supper — There were speeches from candidates, including U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof.