The University of Memphis Chapter of the NAACP is trying toconvince students of the importance of voting by holding a voterregistration drive this week in the University Center.
The drive is designed to increase participation of collegestudents in the voting process, said officials from the NationalAssociation for the Advancement of Colored People.
"I don't want to sound generic, but every vote really doescount," said Alicia Moore, freshman political actions and juvenilejustice chair for The U of M NAACP. "If you don't vote you won't beable to elect politicians who will provide for your needs."
Compared to their adult counterparts, college students are lesslikely to vote, according to United States Census statistics.
"Not voting means the politicians won't pay as much attention toyou in their campaign and their political policies," said StevenMulroy, U of M law professor and voting law expert.
Mulroy said he attributes students' failure to vote to theirbelief that politics don't play a big role in their lives.
"Some students don't feel the issues affect them personally,while older adults, who maybe have regular jobs, kids and pay moretaxes, find politics regularly affects their lives," he said.
Although some college students may not think they are affectedmuch by political elections, Mulroy said, "Students are affected byissues such as higher education funding."
Although he is registered to vote, freshman art major DominicFinzo said he doesn't plan to actually do it.
"If you vote, you give up your right to complain," Finzo said."It's like saying 'I've already given my voice out, and now I don'thave anything to say.'"
Despite an overall lack of student voting, the number ofregistered voters increases in years with major elections, a trendexpected to continue this year.
"People really see larger elections as more important becausethey're in the news," Mulroy said.
Several students at The U of M said they plan to vote becausethey want to support the politicians who they say areimportant.
"I feel I need to vote because President Bush is only helpingout the upper class," said Orlandra Ward, freshman communicationsmajor. "He isn't helping out in the issues I find important."
Ashlee Roberts, freshman psychology major, said she is planningto vote for the first time in this fall's presidentialelection.
Roberts also said voting gives students a say in politics beyondjust talking about it with friends and family.
"I'm not going to just complain about the (political)officials," she said. "I'm going to exercise my right to vote."
Students motivated to vote are important to the electionprocess, Moore said.
"You need to let the politicians know where you stand onissues," she said.
NAACP officials say they hopes to change the trend of collegevoting this week by making it easier to register to vote.
"It only takes a few minutes," Moore said. "All you have to dois fill out the form and we'll take care of the rest."
