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NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2008
ELECTION
Student political leaders travel to Harvard, discuss voter registration
Groups brainstorm ways to register more students to vote
BY JESSE TRIMBLE
jtrimble@kansan.com
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. University students met with students from universities from 42 other states this weekend at Harvard University for the National College Conference for Political Engagement.
The conference has been held since 2004 to encourage students throughout the country to register to vote on their campuses. This was the first year for Harvard to invite the presidents of both campus political parties and a member of the media.
Handshakes, smiles and suggestions for how to get more students registered to vote on campus were often traded between the two parties.
Five students from Kansas attended the conference, including Barbara Ballard, associate director of outreach at the Dole Institute of Politics.
"Students know that the 18- to 24-year-old range are important voters."
"Students know that the 18- to 24-year-old range are important voters," Ballard said. "So instead of focusing on what they already know, student leaders are focusing on civic engagement and what they are going to do to energize people on campuses to go out there and give the last big push before the elections."
John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Harvard Institute of Politics, and Carl Cannon.
Andre Dellatre, executive director of Public Interest Research Group, said that nationally, 80 percent of students who register to vote on campuses have traditionally ended up voting. He said that nationally, 25 percent of students are already registered to vote, 10 percent will not register and 15 percent will register off campus. Organizations such as Young Democrats and College Republicans are focused on signing up the remaining 50 percent who aren't registered.
Washington bureau chief and contributing editor for Reader's Digest, spoke on the interest the 18-to 24-year-old age group has with voting. Volpe's statistics show that 62 percent of the youth polled
istering students to vote, but also raising money and getting the name of our organization out there."
BARBARA BALLARD Associate director of outreach at the Dole Institute of Politics
Toth and Vaughn agreed that many other campus organizations present at the conference faced barriers that Kansas doesn't have. Vaughn said that at the University of Georgia, the student organizations are not allowed to chalk but can use a washable paint instead.
"It has to be something that draws students' attention," Toth said.
Toth said one idea another university used was to have a lifesize cut out of Sen. Barack Obama (D-III.) for students to take photos with.
Jesse Vaughn, Mound City senior and president of KU College Republicans, said he mostly learned from other students at the convention.
Andrew Toth, Colby sophomore and president of KU Young Democrats, said that he learned creative tips from the convention of ways to get more students to register on campus.
are excited about the upcoming elections.
"There are other great things to do if our drive dries up." Toth said. "Most of the creative suggestions came from the students within the conference, too, instead of the instructors."
The two-day sessions at the convention not only informed student leaders how to register more students at their universities to vote, but also broke the 140 students up into groups to focus on targeting the media, utilizing the Internet
"It was interesting to hear and meet with other Republican presidents to generate different ideas." Vaughn said. "Not only with reg-
and creating a public service announcement for their school.
Sean Meloy, senior at Pennsylvania State University and president of College Democrats, said
that although he came into the conference knowing some of the information presented, it was good to hear different viewpoints and strategies from multiple schools and people from around the country.
"Most of the creative suggestions came from the students within the conference, too, instead of the instructors."
"At Penn State we'll probably alter the way the information is assimilated to the students." Meloy said. "We're trying to do more online and the information on the Internet and widgets was a nice edition to the program."
Meloy said that 10,000 students had registered to vote on campus so far and his organization's goal was 20,000. The undergraduate population at Penn State is around 43,000 students, with another 5,000 graduate students, Meloy said.
Sharon Bowers, senior from the University of Hawaii and president
Ben Myers, junior from the University of Southern California and president of College Republicans, said when he goes to a state convention he only sees students from California.
"It was great to come here and speak with people from all over the country." Myers said.
ANDREW TOTH President of KU Young Democrats
of Students for Barack Obama, said Hawaii usually gets left out of conferences and it was great to be able to participate.
"I think it would have been a little more useful a couple months
Senators John McCain (R-Arizel) and Obama were invited to speak at the convention, but declined and sent representatives to have conference calls with students.
The weekend ended with an address by David Gergen, director of the Harvard Kennedy School for Public Leadership. Gergen left students with a strong message of serving the country and becoming engaged.
ago." Bowers said of the information provided. "But I will definitely be passing it on to other students in Hawaii."
“It's important to be civically engaged, not only for the University, but for a better community and country.” Rock said. “For student leaders it's good to be surrounded by students. It allows us to voice our frustrations, collaborate ideas and reiterates that we still all have one common goal and that's politics and registering students to vote.”
Alex Rock, Lawrence senior and consortium representative, said Gergen's message was clear and important.
Edited by Andy Greenhaw
Sketching campus
NATIONAL FBI searches home of son of Dem.lawmaker
The apartment the FBI searched is in a complex about five blocks from the University of Tennessee campus in a neighborhood popular with students. No one around the complex Monday knew David Kernell or saw the FBI agents over the weekend.
Kernell is the son of state Rep. Mike Kernell, a Memphis Democrat and chairman of Tennessee's House Government Operations Committee. The father declined last week to discuss the possibility his son might be involved in the case.
David Kernell, 20, has not returned repeated phone calls or e-mails from the AP since last week. His lawyer said Monday the family is going through a difficult period.
Rick Stones, Lawrence senior, creates a charcoal sketch of Spooner Hall on Monday afternoon with classmates in an Architecture Foundations I class.
A hacker last week broke into one of the Yahoo Inc. e-mail accounts that Palin uses, revealing as evidence a few inconsequential personal messages she has received since John McCain selected her as his running mate. The McCain campaign confirmed the break-in and called it a "shocking invasion of the governor's privacy and a violation of law"
During the break-in, the hacker used an Internet address that traced to David Kernell's apartment complex in Knoxville. The FBI obtained logs Saturday establishing the connection from Gabriel Ramuglia of Athens, Ga., who operates an Internet anonymity service used by the hacker.
WASHINGTON — The FBI searched the residence of the son of a Democratic state lawmaker in Tennessee during the weekend looking for evidence linking the young man to the hacking of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press on Monday.
Ramuglia told the AP the FBI asked him to confirm the address appeared in his records, and it did. Ramuglia said his logs showed the hacker visiting Yahoo's mail service, resetsing Palin's password and announcing results of the break-in on a Web site where the hacking was first disclosed.
"I think he just didn't realize the severity of what he was doing until afterwards," Ramuglia said.
INTERNATIONAL Tour group kidnapped in Egyptian desert
CAIRO, Egypt — Kidnappers have seized 11 European tourists and eight Egyptians during a Sahara desert safari to Gilf al-Kebir, a plateau famed for its prehistoric cave paintings, Egyptian officials said Monday.
Ryan McGeeney/KANSAN
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in
New York that the group had been freed unharmed Monday, and a military official confirmed their release. But Egyptian officials in Cairo and New York later said they had not yet been freed and Aboul Gheit's announcement to reporters that they had
been let go was based on incorrect information.
The five Germans, five Italians and one Romanian were seized Friday along with their Egyptian guides and drivers while camping near the Sudanese border, Egyptian Tourism Minister Zoheir
Garana said before the release was announced. The kidnappers took the captives, including two Italians in their 70s, into Sudan, he said.
Associated Press
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