As thousands across the nation prepare to vote in one of the 10 primaries being held today, Boston University students say voting will not be their top priority.
Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences junior Katrina Hartog said she is less interested in the primary because she is not a Massachusetts resident.
“I feel detached from it because I’m not from here,” she said. “I’ll still vote in the election, but not in the primary.”
College of Arts and Sciences senior Jason Dooley, a member of BU for John Kerry, has been involved in trying to get students to register to vote in Massachusetts.
“The absentee ballot system is complicated,” he said. “It’s a lot easier to register to vote here and go to the first floor of Myles Standish Hall. It’s a much less stressful way to be involved.”
Dooley said that Sen. John Kerry’s (Mass.) appearance on campus in late January made him more appealing to BU students.
“He’s been to this campus, and we know his name,” he said. “There is a level of accessibility there that other candidates haven’t shown.”
CAS sophomore Philip Desgranges, a BU for Kerry member, said his candidate’s “speech here showed that he really cared for college students. It spoke to them, made them want to get out and support the Boston native.”
Hartog said she thinks many students share her feelings about the primary.
“I think that students are as informed as they want to be,” she said. “If you want to be involved, there are many ways to do that. If not, you don’t have to be.”
But Sargent sophomore Andrea Hugyak said she thinks politics are an important part of student life at BU.
“I think it’s important to express an opinion if you have one,” she said. “Too many people are lax about voting, yet they complain about how the government works. We have the right to vote, and we should use it.”
Getting good information about each candidate has been difficult, according to Sargent sophomore Alyssa Kasper, who said she thinks the media bias has been tilted in Kerry’s favor.
“I feel like the media has been talking a lot about John Kerry,” she said. “But it doesn’t influence me one way or another.”
Kasper said she intends to vote during the November election in her native state of Wisconsin through absentee ballot.
“If everyone votes, the outcome is a reflection of what the people really want,” she said. “In Boston, many people are college students. It’s important to vote so that our demographic in particular can get our voice heard.”