In the 2000 presidential election, only one in five young voters showed up to the polls. Four years later, it seemed as though every George, Dick and Kerry fought to get their vote.
Many organizations — political candidates, their parties, MTV, websites, advertisers, clubs and more — stepped up their campaigns to get voters out to the polls on Nov. 2. They used every tactic, from sex to slogans, to inspire the seemingly un-inspirable Generation Y to vote. When you consider what was on the line in 2004, can you really blame them? Everything from jobs and healthcare, to security and the environment stood to be significantly influenced by the differences between the candidates.
Voters ages 18 to 25 could make the difference between who wins and who loses. The 2000 election brought controversy to the presidency. When the election was over, the official difference that decided between Al Gore or George W. Bush was a mere 537 votes. That is less than the number of Chico State first-year students living on campus, which is about 750.
In 2004, both sides managed to make the presidential race aggressive. Advertisements comparing the Democrats to prowling wolves and the Republicans to ostriches with their heads in the sand left some people with a bitter taste in their mouths.
"Every time I see the ad with the wolves, I want to throw my shoe at the television," said Erin Walsh, a member of the Chico State Democratic Club.
Whether shoe-throwing was the reaction Republicans had hoped to achieve, the publicity citizens witnessed seemed to rile all sides of the political spectrum. Hopefully, the result of all this turmoil was an increased presence at the polls.
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