Dustin Bunta never registered to vote.
His vote wouldn't have mattered anyway, he said, because he wouldn't have voted for one of the two main party candidates.
"I didn't want to; I didn't have enough interest," Bunta (freshman-engineering) said. "Now I don't have to wait in line."
In past presidential elections, the 18- to 24-year-old population -- which largely encompasses the Penn State community -- has been the single least likely age group to vote.
Scott Porterfield (junior-psychology), like Bunta, isn't registered, but not for lack of trying. There was an error with his application, and he didn't get to read the letter informing him of such until it was too late, he said. Porterfield said his level of regret is about a seven on a 1-to-10 scale.
"I regret it because I feel excluded
from the process," Porterfield said. "But ... in the long run, it doesn't matter."
Robert Long (junior-material science) is registered, but he didn't bother sending in his absentee ballot. He supported Barack Obama for a while, but he wasn't impressed by the presidential debates. And he thinks Obama's record campaign spending might have been a turn-off factor, too.
And Rich Romano (freshman-hotel, restaurant and institutional management) was still unsure Monday as to whether he would vote. He thinks voting is important, but he doesn't know that either main party candidate is truly qualified for the job.
"I feel that here in America, we could find two more suitable candidates for president," Romano said. "But who would want to run right now?"
In 2000, about 36 percent of the 18- to 24-year-old age group voted, according to the U.S. Census Bureau Web site. In 2004, 47 percent of the group voted.
That's something Matthew Popek believes will change this year.
"I think our generation's pretty sick of hearing that statistic," said Popek, president of Represent Penn State, a non-partisan campus organization that focuses on voter registration and encouraging students to vote. "We have the same rights as our parents, our grandparents."
Zachary Zabel, president of Penn State Students for Barack Obama, and Andrew Natalo, president of Penn State Students for John McCain, urged students to vote today and exercise their civic duty.
Zabel said students shouldn't leave the polls without voting. If someone tells them something to indicate they can't vote that sounds weird -- it probably is. There will be lawyers on site at polling places around the county to help clarify issues like that, Zabel said.
"We're all going to eventually leave this island that is Penn State," Natalo said. "If you don't vote, you don't have a right to complain. That's what it comes down to."
While they support different candidates, both Zabel and Natalo want to remind students that whoever they vote for will influence their futures, especially after they graduate and enter the job market.
And Popek said students should think about others who have spent several hours to stand in line to vote, and it should be that important for everyone. At this point, Popek said, he can't imagine what would convince someone to cast a ballot who hasn't yet been convinced to do so.
"Just registering isn't enough. Just being on the rolls isn't enough," Popek said. "For first-time voters, a lot has changed since the last presidential election and now's their chance to make their voices heard."
And what would he say to someone who, the day before or the day of the election, had decided not to vote?
"What can you say?" Popek asked. "What can you say?"
