Votes Matter in OH

Think one person can change the world? It may take as little as 100 Oberlin students to change the results of the 2000 presidential election.

The 3000-odd Obies who call Ohio their home away from home are in a unique position to affect the results of the upcoming election. Ohio is a swing state, still up for grabs in the current race, although the latest polls show Bush with a shaky lead. While most studentsı first impulse would be to vote in their home state through an absentee ballot, casting their vote in Ohio could tip the scales just enough to put their favorite candidate over the edge.

Many students are also unaware that even first-years are eligible to register in Ohio. If a person has lived in a state for 60 days prior to the election, they have the option of voting in that state.

³Ohio, and this is something that a lot of students on campus havenıt realized yet, is one of the biggest swing states. Iıve heard it mentioned in the top three often. Iıve heard it mentioned as the top swing state often as well,² said junior Politics major Dave Karpf. ³A few hundred votes could make the difference in this election. A few hundred votes could make the difference in Ohio, which could make the difference in this country and decide who the next president is going to be.²

Karpf took last year off to be the national director of the Sierra Student Coalition. The importance of student voters is a subject in which he is well-versed, as his duties included registering students to vote and providing them with information about political candidatesı environmental records. His experience in the area extends to the 1998 Vote Environment campaign he ran on campus. Those involved succeeded in registering 350 Oberlin students to vote.

Recent federal legislation requiring colleges to make a good faith effort to register every student to vote has been duly noted at Oberlin. ³We have enough voter registration forms to enable every Oberlin College student to register to vote in the state of Ohio,² said Dean of Students Peter Goldsmith. ³And there will be various efforts through the fall to make sure that every student has the opportunity to fill out the forms.²

Assistant Director of the Student Union Tina Zwegat has organized a campaign to reach as many students as she can. ³Iım trying to make it as easy on the students as possible,² she said. Tables with registration forms will soon begin to appear around campus. There will be opportunities to register at the two home football games on Saturday and Sept. 23 and at Mark Mellmanıs Convocation lecture on Sept. 28. Tables will be set out at TGIF, the weekly ıSco event on Wilder Bowl, until Oct. 8.

Registration forms will also be available at the information desk in Wilder, along with a list of frequently asked questions and answers, a list of polling places in the area, and information on how to vote absentee.

The College has assumed responsibility for taking the forms to the Board of Elections once they are filled out. ³We had considered simply putting a form in every studentıs mailbox, but if you do that, youıre only halfway there,² said Goldsmith.

³We have chosen to take a more personalized approach,² said Zwegat.

The political implications of registering to vote in Ohio have not escaped observant Obies. For most students here, although not all, the choice is between Democratic nominee Al Gore and Green Party candidate Ralph Nader.

While a vote for Gore in Ohio has the potential to really count, a vote for Nader in strongly Democratic states like California, New York, New Jersey and the District of Columbia is a chance to have a voice.

Junior Rachel Mills, currently unregistered in any state, is weighing her options. ³I donıt know. Because [Ohio] is a swing state and Connecticut, where I would be registering to vote, is definitely Democratic, I either vote for Nader in Connecticut or I vote for Gore here. Itıs really hard for me to decide.²

Karpf, a Gore supporter, plans to register in Oberlin. ³We have the opportunity to make a big difference here,² he said.