City mayor commends surge in youth vote
Pablo Albilal / Correspondent
Issue date: 2/19/08 Section: Page One
University students and young people alike defied expectations by turning out in high numbers to vote in the primaries.
New Jersey Public Interest Research Group Student Chapters' members called on the media and special guests to deliver speeches on the stairs of Brower Commons on the College Avenue campus yesterday afternoon to discuss the surge in youth voter turnout.
NJPIRG member Mohit Bhake, a School of Arts and Sciences first-year student, stood atop the stairs and addressed the listeners.
"A lot of young people say 'Why should I vote for these politicians, they only care about the older voters.' If we get out and vote, we can show that we have a voice," Bhake said. "We wanted to show people that during the past election on Super Tuesday, we actually had an increase of youth voters. We want to continue the momentum."
Michael Shafer, a professor of political science, said he has never seen anything like this in terms of the number of youth voters.
"I have been at Rutgers for 24 years," Shafer said. "I have seen six presidential campaigns come and go, and not once in those six campaigns have the 18 to 24-year-olds in America gotten up off their collective butts and voted. There are 28 million 18 to 24-year-olds who can turn this election around."
New Brunswick Mayor James C. Cahill also appeared at the event and said he had already expected a high youth voter turnout before the election took place.
In New Brunswick, Sen. Barack Obama won 58.7 percent of the vote despite the majority of Middlesex County voting for Sen. Hillary Clinton with 57 percent of the total 102,430 Democratic and 30,155 Republican votes cast.
"The numbers are always interesting when they come out," Cahill said. "I think that the candidates from both political parties have really engaged the public in a discussion on what's important to us on a day to day basis."
NJPIRG member Luis Zeno, a Livingston College sophomore, handed out literature on the candidates' issues.
New Jersey Public Interest Research Group Student Chapters' members called on the media and special guests to deliver speeches on the stairs of Brower Commons on the College Avenue campus yesterday afternoon to discuss the surge in youth voter turnout.
NJPIRG member Mohit Bhake, a School of Arts and Sciences first-year student, stood atop the stairs and addressed the listeners.
"A lot of young people say 'Why should I vote for these politicians, they only care about the older voters.' If we get out and vote, we can show that we have a voice," Bhake said. "We wanted to show people that during the past election on Super Tuesday, we actually had an increase of youth voters. We want to continue the momentum."
Michael Shafer, a professor of political science, said he has never seen anything like this in terms of the number of youth voters.
"I have been at Rutgers for 24 years," Shafer said. "I have seen six presidential campaigns come and go, and not once in those six campaigns have the 18 to 24-year-olds in America gotten up off their collective butts and voted. There are 28 million 18 to 24-year-olds who can turn this election around."
New Brunswick Mayor James C. Cahill also appeared at the event and said he had already expected a high youth voter turnout before the election took place.
In New Brunswick, Sen. Barack Obama won 58.7 percent of the vote despite the majority of Middlesex County voting for Sen. Hillary Clinton with 57 percent of the total 102,430 Democratic and 30,155 Republican votes cast.
"The numbers are always interesting when they come out," Cahill said. "I think that the candidates from both political parties have really engaged the public in a discussion on what's important to us on a day to day basis."
NJPIRG member Luis Zeno, a Livingston College sophomore, handed out literature on the candidates' issues.