Bombarded by Campaigners
The 2008 Presidential Election will go down in the history books as an amazing race. The cadidates are none like we have seen before and response from new voters has been amazing.
College students at the Polls. www.cnn.com
- College students at the Polls. www.cnn.com
The 2008 Presidential Election will go down in the history books as an amazing race. The cadidates are none like we have seen before and response from new voters has been amazing. However, when college students from Bloomsburg University look back at this election, some might think of the overwhelming campaigning tactics.
Walking through the Bloomsburg Campus for the past two weeks has been very overwhelming. I even find myself avoiding the walk past the Kehr Union or I speed walk past the Student Service Center just to avoid the nonstop bantering. Ashley Tharp, a senior at Bloomsburg, feels the same way.
Tharp had class at 11:00 a.m. today and as she climbed the steps of the Union, she held her breath. She knew a crowd of students would soon start screaming in her face. She reached the top step and the questions starting coming. “Did you vote yet? Do you know where to vote? Do you know who you are voting for? What time are you going to vote?” Tharp quickly answered, “After class,” and walked away with her head down, hoping they weren’t following her.
When asked about how she felt about the constant questioning, she said, “It’s so annoying. It makes me thankful I don’t live on campus. I ran between the Student Service Center and Bakeless about five times today and every time I walked by, I had to keep my head down just so they didn’t talk to me. Once you make eye contact, it’s all over.”
Tharp wasn’t the only one that felt that way. I sat back and observed as fearless students walked into the danger zone. Most of the students seemed to be annoyed by the constant bantering, while other just ignored it. Many walked by wearing headphones or talking on their cell phones, while others just jetted by with their heads down.
Getting the young population to vote is extremely important. We have a say in our future, we can create a change. However, the way people have been campaigning on campus has to change as well.
It’s terrible when students can’t walk to and from class without getting bombarded about where and who to vote for. It’s understandable that this is an extremely important election, but let the students of Bloomsburg remember this election for who was running, not by how many times they were asked, “did you vote today?”
I 100% agree with Sarah. The article states that people would scream in other peoples faces? When and where did this happen? I was outside the Union all day and that did not happen once. Also the questioning was not constant on purpose. It is hard to remember a face, so yes students may have been asked more than once if they voted and that will happen, but to say it was constant is false, once students were asked if they voted I would let them go and did not follow up or force them to do anything. This election will not be remembered on campus for the so called “annoying questions”, It will be remembered for the record turnout, the kids standing in line for 3 hours to have their voices heard, the 90% of kids who acted in a mature manner when asked if they voted and actually engaged in friendly conversation, it will be remembered for the history that was made and for the over 400 people marching in the streets when change occured, don’t let anyone tell you that it will be remembered in a negative way.