College students help run the polls By Anna Krejci News-Chronicle Student leaders of the College Democrats and the College Republicans on the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus are working together to encourage peers to vote, even for an election where the decisions to be made fall within the realm of the Republican primary. Sarah Oldenburg, legislative affairs director for the university's student government association and co-chair of the College Democrats has been organizing college students to volunteer at a polling place on campus and is hoping for the largest turnout possible. "Even putting biases aside, I think it's important to get out the youth vote so our voices can be heard," she said. Last week, 887 voters living in Green Bay's 2nd Ward were registered; about 95 percent of voters in the ward are university students, said Shirley Vandermuss, election specialist from the city clerk's office. University housing has a capacity of about 2,000 students. Tonight, the volunteers are undergoing a training session. On Tuesday, college students will be organizing ballots and counting written votes in shifts ranging from one to four hours. Voters on the UWGB campus, and in other parts of the county will vote on Tuesday for one of four Republican candidates hoping to unseat U.S. Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold on the Nov. 2 election; the candidates are Russ Darrow, Robert Lorge, Tim Michels and Bob Welch. Voters on the UWGB campus and the rest of Ward 2 in Green Bay will also choose between one of two candidates running to unseat Democratic state Sen. Dave Hansen, Gary Drzewiecki and David Steffen. Campus leaders from Republican and Democratic parties said much is at stake in the elections. Oldenburg said she is concerned about recent tuition hikes and students' voices being ignored because of low turnout among 18-24-year-old voters. "If we don't (vote), officials aren't going to listen to us," Oldenburg said. Thirteen percent of Wisconsin's electorate, or 502,283 people, are between the ages of 18 and 24. Jon Hayden, executive director of the UWGB College Republicans said he is concerned that if taxes are raised, more businesses will move employment opportunities abroad. The issues - the economy, health care, social security - do matter to college students, he said, but added that the fact their peers will be working at a polling place on Tuesday will not motivate fellow students to exercise their political voices. "I think convenience will be the biggest factor in whether or not they vote," he said. The city of Green Bay operates a polling place on the UWGB campus for elections that include federal and state offices. During the February primary and April election, to vote, Hayden had to take a 10-minute car ride to a church off campus, and most college students do not have access to a car, he said. While students on the UWGB campus are encouraging political activity at the polls, so are students and faculty on the St. Norbert College campus in De Pere. SNC student and De Pere Ald. Sam Dunlop led a movement to have a SNC campus polling place operating for the November election, but Dave Minten, De Pere clerk, said the De Pere city council did not approve the new voting location. While SNC students will continue to vote at a present polling place four blocks from campus, Minten said that last week he authorized six students and staff members to register voters at SNC campus events. Of all voters aged 18-24 in the country, 46 percent voted in the 2000 presidential election, according to the University of Maryland's Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. According to information compiled by CIRCLE, in the 2000 presidential election, Wisconsin, with 56 percent of young people voting, ranked fifth among states with the highest voter turnout among citizens 18-24 years old. Alaska, with a voter turnout of 63 percent among its voters in the same age category, had the highest turnout. Hawaii had the lowest percentage of voter turnout among 18-24-year-olds with 22 percent. Brown County Clerk Darlene Marcelle predicts 22 percent of the 173,327 eligible voters in the County to vote on Tuesday. The percentage is based on the 1992 and 1996 presidential year elections, when 23 percent and 21 percent of voters, respectively, voted in the county. Marcelle said she did not include the 57 percent voter turnout for the 2000 presidential election in the recent estimate because the Lambeau Field renovation referendum appeared on the ballot.