When Gov. John Kitzhaber attended the University as a freshman in 1965, he wanted the voting age lowered from 21 to 18. After all, he thought, if students could be drafted to fight in the jungles of Vietnam at age 18, they should have a say in their country’s public policy at the same age, said Jon Coney, a Kitzhaber spokesman.
That ideal became a reality in 1970, when Congress passed legislation that lowered the legal voting age to 18. The Oregon Legislature followed suit on June 4, 1971, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
But when Kitzhaber returns to the University on Wednesday for a five- to 10- minute speech at 9:30 a.m. in the EMU Amphitheater, he will not be pushing for student voters’ rights, but encouraging student voters to exercise those rights.
“The governor has always said voting is the heart of democracy,” Coney said. “If students aren’t using their influence at the ballot box, they’re going to be overlooked.” Coney said legislators tend to overlook the student vote because students often have low voter turnout rates.
Besides the presidential and state office elections, the outcome of many of this year’s ballot measures will affect how higher education is funded and the access to affordable health care in the coming years.
University President Dave Frohnmayer echoed the importance of students voting and said the outcomes of this year’s elections and ballot measures will have a more direct impact on students than any he has seen as president of the University.
“This year is very important,” Frohnmayer said.
So important that state Sen. Susan Castillo, D-Lane County, state Rep. Vicki Walker, D-Lane County, and Executive Assistant to the University President Dave Hubin also will speak about how students can register to vote and the importance of taking the necessary steps to do so.
“This election in itself is crucial to the whole program, including the University,” Hubin said. “But much broader than that, this University has traditionally been active in participating in the electoral process. On other campuses, voter registration is separate effort from the students. Here, students take the lead. That’s why I’m participating and I assume that’s why [Castillo and Walker] are as well.”
Kitzhaber’s speech kicks off the formal commencement of a voter registration drive by the ASUO Executive office. Through sidewalk registration of voters and the lure of submitting votes to the world’s largest ballot box — a 20-foot-7-inches tall, 9-foot-2-inches wide box approved by the Lane County Elections Department — ASUO hopes to register 6,000 student voters.
ASUO President Jay Breslow said he talked to students in the School of Architecture and Allied Arts and off-campus lumber suppliers and contractors about construction of the giant box, but nothing is finalized. If the box is completed, students will need to stand at a height of two stories to deposit their ballots in it. The ASUO would like to see the box recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records, Breslow said.
Oregon’s November election is by mail-in ballot, and students will have access to boxes across campus to drop off their ballots, which must be mailed by Oct. 20.
As of last Friday, ASUO had registered 1,430 students to vote, said Melissa Unger, the legislative organizer for ASUO.
Breslow believes a speech by the governor, in addition to speeches by Castillo and Walker, can only further that cause.
“It definitely helps,” he said.