Show Young college students lament inability to vote Jed rid Layton Sp Special f fi ca i X from the U of UT Chronicle p 4 Lane Wheeler will not vote on Election Day She is a US U.S. citizen She has educated herself about the c candidates She pays taxes and does not have a criminal record However if she tries to vote poll workers would turn her away because she is 17 A freshman in government at Georgetown University Wheelers Wheeler's birthday is a few mon months tM after t er Nov 4 m making ja wP x her W too yo young to vote Even though Wheeler Js is younger than most of her classmates college ollege campuses have s ri an increase in political activity this year which she s said id has made it h it difficult to not feel upset about being excluded from the excitement It is hard because a student on campus will be out trying to register to vote and I 1 will have to reject them every time because it just isn't possible for fOJ me she said Al ugh they are disappointed they wont rJ beable be to to toh yote vote stude students ts s younger younger than 18 ar are are determined to have their voices heard this election season Gadiel Durham a 17 year old freshman studying graphic design at American University wears a Sen John McCain T-shirt T once a week sports a Republican sign on his apartment window and encourages his friends to register regist r to vote I would vote McCain if I could but I have already convinced a number of my voting friends to togo togo togo go for him Durham said Wheeler shows her support by canvassing with the Georgetown Young Democrats on behalf of her presidential pick Sen Barack Another student under the age requirement is Nadia Walker a freshman in finance at Ohio Slate who up a year in the second gradeI grade I am used to being behind everyone else elset Walker said When all my my friends ends got their drivers driver's license I had to wait a whole year longer to turn 16 It is the same thing with voting It is just too too bad That t the year I 1 turned 18 is also the most important presidential election ever In 1971 the Amendment to the Constitution lowered the voting age from 21 to 1 18 8 Although the amendment appeased people ages 18 to 20 year olds were still left eft out If they let Yote th they y would have haye to Jo let all ll J year olds vote Durha Durham Durham aid t n l if they did that soon someone someone would want year olds to vote The age limit would keep going down until my year old brother could vote Junior said he will miss Under Continued on Just under the line Continued from Al AI Althe Althe the Election Day cut off by just three days a freshman studying landscape design at George Washington University will celebrate his birthday Nov 7 The worst part about i it is that two years ago Election Day was on my birthday he said If I had turned 18 that day I could have voted But since it is ison ison ison on the Nov 4 this year I cant can't vote According to election rules Election Day is held the first Tuesday after Nov 1 Neither nor Walker are staying silent politically Walker has has' volunteered with a nearby campaign office stuffing envelopes and making signs for an independent candidate has spent a few Saturdays handing out flyers encouraging people to register at a subway station near his apartment building I will be the first one at atthe atthe atthe the polls four years from now said I just hope I will be voting to keep Barack in office rather than voting to replace John McCain Editors Editor's Note Note Jed Jed Layton is a U student reporting from Washington DC D.C. through the Hinckley Institute of Politics and University |