UAlbany students get excited about presidential politics

Posted at: 10/08/2012 11:27 PM | Updated at: 10/09/2012 12:13 AM
By: Dan Bazile

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ALBANY -- University at Albany students packed the ballroom at the Campus Center, doing their duty as football fans as they watched the Jets vs Houston game on a big screen. But they were also fulfilling their civic duty by registering to vote. Free food was part of the attraction. But they seemed genuinely interested in getting involved.

"We actually are working with the campaign to get 1,500 people on campus registered. We are not sure how close to that number we are," said Cassie Tavernier, a student who works with the university's college Democrats.

The Student Association organized the voter registration drive, hoping it will translate into a bigger turn out at the polls. It's all about presidential politics with some supporting President Barack Obama while others were pulling for Mitt Romney. They all agreed this was the most important election of their generation and they believe the college vote can make a big difference.

"The lowest number of people registered to vote are college students and if you think about it, we can all collaborate and decide the election," Tavernier said.

President Obama did well with the college crowd in the last election. This year, sophomore David Amthor says he's hoping to change that by trying get more college Republicans into the voting booth.

"Young votes are the ones that determined the last election and we'll see what it does on this one too," Amthor told Newschannel 13. "We have a pretty big college Republicans group. We'd like to think that we do make a difference."

The biggest worries among these students are jobs and their ability to repay their student loans in the future.

If you haven't registered to vote, you have three days left to get your registration into the board of elections. the deadline is October 12th. voters go to the polls on November 6th.