If young voters at the University of New Hampshire decide the presidential primary, Republican Rudy Guiliani and Democrat Barack Obama might win.
Early results show them ahead after the first day of the “Wildcats Vote”, a mock election UNH is holding this week.
As New Hampshire Public Radio’s Amy Quinton reports, the goal of the mock election is not to see who’s the most popular – but to get students to the polls on January 8th.
(Would you like a Republican or Democratic Ballot? Democratic..Would you girls like to come and vote real quick…)
Inside Stoke Hall, the largest dorm on UNH’s campus, students are coaxing others to participate in the university’s first simulated presidential primary.
Senior Valerie Hooper stands next to a table with red white and blue decorations, U-S flags, and a ballot box with “Wildcats Vote” written on the side.
1073 I voted for Barack Obama…I just like his overall personality sense of well-being he has great policies regarding health care, pulling out of the war, I think there’s a great personality and charisma to him.
This mock election was an easy process for Hooper --she voted four years ago in the real presidential election.
But for other students, voting, whether in a mock or real election, is not easy.
1074 (but my vote will be a waste..it takes two seconds…but I don’t even know who’s running, I don’t know anything..(laughs)
That’s student Adriana Viqueira. This would be her first time voting – she asks for a democratic ballot.
1074 (oh I know this guy, I know Obama..I think that’s the only one I know, oh wait I know Hillary Clinton)
In many ways, Viqueira represents a lot of college students; politically disengaged.
Only 14-percent of voters under age 30 voted in the primary four years ago.
While that’s a growing number, Michelle Holt Shannon says it could be better.
Holt-Shannon is Assistant Director of UNH’s Discovery Program , which is sponsoring the Wildcats Vote.
1190 :12 with this demographic of students, one of the main reasons we’ll hear students have chosen not to vote is because they don’t feel informed enough and they’ll sort of even plan to not vote, because they plan to not feel informed enough
Holt-Shannon says Wildcats Vote is meant to educate students about the primary process and with luck - get them to vote in the real primary.
1220 nats- where’s the clerk’s office, we’re going to have vans leaving from the MUB every 15 minutes..
During a forum that preceding the wildcats vote this week, UNH students were able to get information about how and where to vote from representatives of the presidential campaigns.
Student Jessica Plourde says she thinks a lot of students don’t vote because they’re overwhelmed with academics and sometimes here misinformation about voting.
“I’m not a Durham resident, and I didn’t know how to go about getting an absentee ballot where I have to go, I know that’s a cause of concern that a lot of students have they don’t know where to go if they do need one, that’s another real clue as to why student’s don’t partake in it because they don’t know what they have to do.
Plourde says she thinks the mock election will be a good exercise for students.
Organizers are trying to make it as similar to a real primary as possible.
To prevent fraud, or voting more than once, student’s must vote in their residence hall --their name will be on a list.
Residents’ Assistant and sophomore Jordan Caley says she likes that polling places on campus are divided into three areas, each area voting on a different day.
1060 :24 it’s kind of an experiment to see if the way area one voted sways the rest of the campus, which is similar to what happens in New Hampshire’s role, to sway the votes for the rest of the country.
Students residing in a dorm called Jesse Doe wanted to sway the vote too.
They decided to represent Dixville Notch, the first town to vote in New Hampshire’s primary.
Calling themselves Doe-ville Notch, they even voted at midnight on the first day of the mock election.
And in another real world experience, a student representing a campaign asked about setting up a table at a polling place.
But organizers made him stand outside, 100 feet away from the ballot box.
Sophomore Jordan Caley says the whole experiment will send her to the polls on January 8th --although she’s still undecided.
1060 1:52 I’m still on the fence, I’m glad I have a couple more weeks before I have to decide in the real election but a lot of events that have been going on around campus to help people get more informed, I’ve attended some of them and its definitely helped out in shaping my decision.
UNH will hold a news conference on Friday in the student union to announce the results.
For NHPR news, I’m Amy Quinton.
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