Secretary of StateBill Bradbury urged students Thursday to “engage in their civic responsibility” by voting in the November elections.
Speaking to a crowd of about 100 students and members of the
community at a voter rally in the EMU amphitheater, Bradburystressed the need for student involvement in the political process if issues such as funding and tuition are to be given the attention they deserve.
“You can make a difference, a huge difference, but you do have to vote,” Bradbury said, citing his experiences as a student during the Vietnam War as a prime example of how student voters can make change a reality.
“I voted then because protests weren’t working, and I wanted change,” he said. “And guess what? We got change.”
University President Dave Frohnmayer also spoke at the rally, commending students for what he
described as a “well-organized and deeply committed” effort to register all students.
The University has long had a reputation for being one of the most politically active campuses in the nation, Frohnmayer said.
Prior to his speech, he described what he called a “muscular tradition of strong voter turnout” at the
University, emphasizing that get-out-the-vote efforts on campus
have always been effective and
nonpartisan.
“It has to be nonpartisan, and people have been very scrupulous about it,” he said about the current voter-registration drive on campus.
Frohnmayer praised current efforts by student leaders to continue the University’s long tradition of “civic responsibility and engagement” and warned that if students don’t vote, their opinions will not be listened to.
However, the number of students throughout the rally left some wondering where everyone was and why the rally didn’t get more publicity.
“It was almost insulting,” freshman Alison Angelos said. “I almost felt bad that (Bradbury) came all the way over here and hardly anyone showed.”
Sophomore Claire Dyrud said although she did not know the event was taking place until it began, it seemed like an effective way of getting students’ attention and inspiring them to vote.
“It’s intriguing; it makes people interested,” she said.
Sophomore Sara Hamilton said the rally was as effective as it could be, given the amount of apathetic students on campus who were simply unaware that the rally was going on.
“If students knew that their vote matters, they might be more interested,” she said.
Along with local voter registration groups, a group calling themselves “Billionaires for Bush” was in
attendance.
Armed with signs and dressed in formal attire, Billionaires for Bush volunteers described their purpose as being centered around maintaining the status quo they said the Bush administration has worked so hard to establish.
“Democracy’s really not for everyone — we should just leave it to the billionaires,” said a volunteer who gave his name as Pluto Crat.

Sophomore Jane Wilson-Moses applauded the group’s presence, emphasizing that while some students may not immediately understand the satire behind the message, its efforts are refreshing and inspiring.
“It’s respectful of people’s intelligence, which is not true for what passes for political debate in this country,” Wilson-Moses said.
ASUO State Affairs Coordinator Amy DuFour said the rally was a tremendous success. She said the aim of the event was not just to show students that their voices can make a difference, a message both Bradbury and Frohnmayer heavily emphasized in their speeches, but to show students that voting is not as boring as some make it out to be.
“Voting is fun,” DuFour said.
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