News > October 23, 2008

By Sam Cernuto | Staff writer

Nov. 4 is quickly approaching and the presidential candidates are campaigning till the very last minute. This is going to be a historic election no matter who wins. With the first minority running for president and a woman running as vice president, the White House will be forever altered regardless of which party gets nominated. Katy Harriger, chair of the university’s political science department, said, “Not only will this be a historic election, but there is a certain intensity to this election than there has been in the past. The combination of the economic crisis and the war will bring a historic number of voters.”

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(Graphic by Ryan Caldwell/Old Gold & Black)

Interestingly enough, more college students are involved in this election than in years past.

“Traditionally, Wake has not been politically active other than the times the presidential debates were held here,” Harriger said. “However, this election, Wake is like other universities where there’s more involvement than historically ever before.”

Junior Benjamin Lynch, president of College Republicans, said, “Wake students have been very receptive to the election and have taken initiative to become personally involved. It appears that the typical myths that college students are politically apathetic have been proven untrue. The enthusiasm in the 2008 election seems unparalleled as students are becoming increasing involved.”

The College Republicans and College Democrats on campus have been drawn into these elections. Both groups have put on multiple events to promote their candidates and get more students interested. Dorm storms started last semester to make sure every student was registered to vote, and now shuttles are available to take students to vote early.

“The College Dems have been very active since the beginning of this year,” junior Zahir Rahman, president of College Democrats, said. “We have hosted panel discussions with professors on topics ranging from education to fiscal policy, have traveled to see and meet Senator Obama across the state, have had phone banking events, canvassing events, done voter registration drives hardcore on campus, hosted actor Kal Penn and U.S. Senate Candidate Kay Hagan’s son and held debate watch parties.”

The College Republicans have been equally as active on campus. They have hosted voter registration drives throughout the year, kicking off the year with a concert on the Mag Quad. Since then, they have worked closely with campaigns of all GOP candidates. Currently, College Republicans is focusing on GOTV efforts and the final 72-hour campaign.

“Students have taken off this whole semester to work on the campaigns,” Harriger said. “This is the first time I have ever seen that, other than one other student, in the 23 years I have been teaching. It is unusual.”

Thanks to the College Republicans and College Democrats, university students are more active in the Winston-Salem community as well.

“College Republicans continues to work closely with local, statewide, and national campaigns to further efforts of the GOP,” Lynch said.“Through volunteering with the local GOP headquarters, university students have consistently made the Winston-Salem Victory Center the office with the most impressive totals and the most effective efforts.”

Rahman has focused mostly on getting the student body out to vote since most of the students in College Democrats are out-of-state students.

“In the coming weeks, we are focusing on Get Out the Vote efforts,” he said. “We will be doing an all out campus invasion to make sure everyone on campus, from students to faculty to staff go out and vote. We will also be heavily involved in the Biden event this week, and will be hosting a free Rock-n-Vote concert in Benson 410 this Saturday night which will feature local bands.”

Students around campus who are not involved in either political group are still highly interested in the election. Sophomore Kendall Hack said, “Unlike in previous elections, the youth vote will clearly play a factor in this year’s election, and that is exciting.”

Sophomore James Griffin added, “It’s very exciting to be on a college campus in a state that could go red or blue come Election Day.”

On the flip side, junior Mike Dorsey is very hesitant to prematurely consider the youth a force in this election. Also, some students are still undecided about who they will vote for.

“As an independent, I believe that McCain is really going to have to step up his game since Palin has lost her luster and Obama has pulled ahead in mulitple polls,” junior Ben Suitt said. The Student has been doing polls every Tuesday to find out how many students are voting for each candidate. Rahman is encouraged because each week, there seems to be a stronger pull towards Obama and the gap between him and McCain continues to widen.

In short, this is going to be a historic election. Rahman concluded, “we also hope that students care enough about their country and its future that they keep themselves well informed about the issues and the party stances, propelling them to vote for change in coming weeks.”