Students need motivation to vote?

~ Samantha Allen

When Freud spoke about the group mentality, he probably didn’t consider how it could be involved in political voting.

At the Tompkins County voting center set up at Ithaca College’s Circles Community Building, many students came to vote but often in groups.

Linda McBride, Ithaca resident and election inspector, said she had seen a lot of students coming into the building in groups.
Sara Gurman, a freshman who voted for her first time here at the community building, said she wanted her friends to be there for support.

“We’re all sort of new to this, and without my friends this would be intimidating,” Gurman said. She was accompanied by two other freshman, one of whom had voted previously in an absentee ballot for New Jersey.

In this video, IC freshman Sara Gurman and Natasha Petersen:


To find out why students like Gurman thought they needed support for voting on IC's campus, check here.


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McBride said that people were very excited and she had seen a lot of first time voters, including students and immigrants, who wanted friends there to photograph their first time pulling the lever.

“I think people are excited to vote,” she said. “I only wish that kind of excitement stayed with people because, that’s what’s democracy is all about. And, as exciting as this is, I wish it was the norm. But it’s not.”



McBride who said she has been working at the polls since 2002 said she has never seen anything as remarkable as the turnout for this election. She said at 8:15 p.m. that night, 74 percent of the registered voters had cast their vote.

Local students helping out from TCCC, Tompkins County Community College, said they were impressed by the turnout too. Daniel Pine, a student and election coordinator who has been working at the polls for the past three elections, said many senior citizens had actually showed up, something he had not witnessed in the past.

Jake Biles, another TCCC student and election inspector, estimated that over 500 out of 700 registered senior citizens had showed up.

Behind the Scenes: Those Who Work to Keep Democracy Alive

Polling story
--Aly Dixon

Walking into the polling place at the Tompkins County Public Library located at 101 E. Green Street was a surreal experience. Having never voted in a general election in a polling place, I was giddy and excited for the events of the day to unfold. However, I wondered what actually allowed this process to work; how we can successfully hold elections in a way most countries can't. And although America's voting process has been deeply criticized, it seems it is also one of much envy. Democracy strives in this country, but it is not without the help of the many who are dedicated to the preservation of this very ideal without agenda or prejudice.

Throughout this 2008 campaign for president, we have seen the attention turn to figures with no influence on our ability to vote, from Bill Hiers to Reverend Wright to General Petraeus, to powerful corporations, to influential lobbyists. But we have not seen the real pioneers of democracy, those behind the scenes, those who sacrifice their time and dedication to make sure our democratic process is carried out in the fairest of manners. Election inspectors are examples of these people.



Essentially, the duty of the election inspector is to ensure that all elections are conducted in a fair and impartial manner. Specifically, that are responsible to ensure that all eligible voters are able to exercise their right to vote and that the election law is applied uniformly. For each polling place there is at least one republican, and one democrat election inspector to ensure fairness and stability.




As an election inspector, you must be at the specific polling place you are working at a half hour before it opens, in this case Begg and the other inspectors got to the Tompkins County Public Library at six-thirty in the morning. You are required to work the whole day as an inspector. In New York, the polls close at nine p.m., so Begg and the others expected to leave around nine thirty, a long day of work. To Begg's suprise, the wage for the day of service is $160. However, Begg claims the pay previously was below minimum wage.

To serve as an election inspector you must be a registered voter along which a resident of the county in which you wish to work at. You must not be a spouse, child, or parent of a candidate running in the district you will work, and you cannot hold any sort of public elective office or being running for office in the district you are working.

Begg and the other inspectors seemed happy at the outcome of the election during our interview. Begg claimed that well over half of all voters assigned to their polling place had voted by about 4:30 p.m., a statistic that satisfied all of the inspectors.

"We haven't had any real problems yet, and I hope that continues the rest of the day," Begg said.

As someone that prides herself on being politically informed, I was ashamed to realize I knew little to nothing about the duties and responsibilities of election inspectors. There jobs may seem small, insignifcant, or even easy, but the opposite seems true. These people took the time out to help others fulfill their constitutional right, while sacrificing most of their day. They could have been home watching the votes get tallied on CNN, scanning updated articles on the New York Times, despairingly watching Fox News cling to hope, or gleefully watching states become blue, but instead they helped the rest of us realize our own dreams of participating in a democracy that many don't have the privilege of realizing.

Elderly Voters: Most Likely to Vote, Most ignored in this Election

"They're focusing too much on the younger generation I think," said Judy Cuyle of Spencer New York.
Cuyle is a 63-year old resident and a registered voter. She plans to go to the polls this coming Tuesday to make her selection on the ballot but Cuyle is still on the fence.
"I was a registered Republican but changed to Democrat in Bush's first term," Cuyle says. "Now I'm not sure how I'll vote."

Like Cuyle, many over-sixty voters feel the economy is the most important factor in the upcoming election. With the recent nose dive on Wall Street, those close to retirement or already depending on Social Security are looking to the next President to do something to save the floundering U.S. economy.

"Neither [candidate] seems to know much about the economy," says Cuyle. "They're both out of touch with what it's like to live in the real world."

The trend in Obama's campaign trail, as noted in several major newspapers, is that a great number of his supporters are in the 18-21 age range.  Yet trends at the polls suggest that over 60 percent of those over sixty actually appear and fill out the ballot. The national average for the rest of the U.S. population is about ten percent lower. 

Dave Wilson, 67, agrees with Cuyle. 

"The main issue is the economy," he said. The Dryden resident has been a registered Republican in the past and is sticking by his party this election.

"I don't feel that [the candidates] are ignoring me," Wilson said.   

Above, Dave Wilson explains why he doesn't feel ignored.

Kristin Olson, 20, of Ithaca, hasn't voted in a Presidential election before. Yet she too has noticed an intense focus on younger voters as she has followed the election. 

"It seemed that Obama was doing it first. What else could McCain do except make some effort to vie for the same votes?", Olson said. 

Olson admits that several of her friends will not be participating in the election process, but most are.  A common misconception is that the Nixon-Kennedy election was the last to draw in young voters-- the reality is that this election will be the first that a major projected youth vote has occured.

Ignored or not, each individual has an equal opportunity to go to the polls this coming Tuesday (November 4) and have a say in who the next President of America will be.

Joy Kucinkas

In-depth Political Story

Picture Courtesy of the Washington Post