SectionsOur View: Missouri students should have impact on national results
The Standard Editorial Board
Issue date: 10/14/08 Section: Opinion
The voter registrations are in, and it looks like students will have the opportunity to be heard a little louder than in past elections.
Last Wednesday, there were already 3,853 more voters registered than in 2004.
According to a few student groups, much of that can be attributed to the push from these groups to get students registered.
The Student Government Association expects its final total to be more than 1,000.
And though we don't have the final numbers, many other groups also worked toward registering students including Residence Life and Services, the Residence Hall Association, College Republicans and Students for Barack Obama.
In a state that's looking very purple these days, this handful of students could change the shade of our political future.
Fox News reported last week that their poll with Rasmussen Reports showed Obama leading McCain by three points in Missouri, just weeks after it showed McCain leading by five.
Basically, poll numbers in Missouri currently resemble that big pirate ship ride at Six Flags.
And obviously, that's a big deal for a state that has picked the president in every election since 1900, save for 1956, when Missouri voters thought Adlai Stevenson would be better than Dwight Eisenhower.
Based on current trends, voters in Missouri are drifting to the Obama side. And based on more than 100 years of history, Missouri's electoral votes will go to the eventual winner of the election.
If a large enough group of Missouri's young voters decide over the next month that they're going to support one candidate or the other, it could make all the difference for that candidate.
We've been told since well before we were 18 that our vote counts, and it's never been truer than it is now.
Last Wednesday, there were already 3,853 more voters registered than in 2004.
According to a few student groups, much of that can be attributed to the push from these groups to get students registered.
The Student Government Association expects its final total to be more than 1,000.
And though we don't have the final numbers, many other groups also worked toward registering students including Residence Life and Services, the Residence Hall Association, College Republicans and Students for Barack Obama.
In a state that's looking very purple these days, this handful of students could change the shade of our political future.
Fox News reported last week that their poll with Rasmussen Reports showed Obama leading McCain by three points in Missouri, just weeks after it showed McCain leading by five.
Basically, poll numbers in Missouri currently resemble that big pirate ship ride at Six Flags.
And obviously, that's a big deal for a state that has picked the president in every election since 1900, save for 1956, when Missouri voters thought Adlai Stevenson would be better than Dwight Eisenhower.
Based on current trends, voters in Missouri are drifting to the Obama side. And based on more than 100 years of history, Missouri's electoral votes will go to the eventual winner of the election.
If a large enough group of Missouri's young voters decide over the next month that they're going to support one candidate or the other, it could make all the difference for that candidate.
We've been told since well before we were 18 that our vote counts, and it's never been truer than it is now.
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