VOL. XIII, NO. 4
NOVEMBER 12, 1971

Will 18-Year-Olds Use New Voting Privileges?
The cliché that many young people use to argue for lowering the voting age is "If 18-year-olds are old enough to fight for their country, they are old enough to have a voice in what their country does." And as far as this statement goes it is correct. But students are going to have to accept responsibilities and live up to their new roles as voting citizens. The best possible way to do this is to get out and register and exercise their privilege.

Many adults say that 18-year-olds do not possess enough knowledge about national politics. Through the required government courses in both junior high and high schools most young people are probably more politically aware than their parents.

The majority of the students questioned agreed that the impact of the approximately 11 million additional voters would be limited. The presidential elections of the recent past have been fairly close; and if this situation recurs in 1972, the 18-year-old vote might play a part.

One student felt that many older voters, who usually don't vote, will do so in '72 because they are scared of what the 18-year-olds might accomplish. If this idea proves correct, the two groups should balance; and no great change in the election results should occur.

One underclassman predicted that we will notice a shift in campaign tactics in the fall elections. The politicians will be forced into gearing at least part of their attention on youth.

Students from all classes were asked: "Assuming you were of voting age by the fall of '72, who would your candidate for president be?"
 MW "POLL"
Kennedy 43%
Nixon 2O%
Muskie 12%
McGovern 4%
Wallace 3%
McCarthy 1%
Undecided 17%

Mr. Gaston Freeman, a government teacher, had these comments on the 18-year-old vote. "The question of the 18-year-old vote is no longer a hypothetical one, for the twenty-sixth Amendment gave 11 million voters this right. Now that the question of whether the student may vote has been resolved, the issue has become where he may vote. The amendment, left this question unsettled: Where do the college students vote-back home or at college?

"The students claim they pay taxes in college communities, income, sales, and indirectly, property taxes when they live off campus. They are also subject to the housing codes and civic and criminal laws of the community.

"Some states have bowed to what seems like the logical implication of this Amendment and have ruled that students may register where they live most of the year-at college.

"Elsewhere, some states are holding to the view that students are merely transients; others would permit only married students or those showing proof of permanent residence to register locally.

"There are two sides to every issue, but we must try to understand the attitude of the local area. 'The students float a bond issue and then move on, and who's left holding the bag?' This is the concern of the college towns."