NEWS
Monday, August 16, 2004 - The Michigan Daily - 3
Ants Marc/ing
Students overseas
face additional step
in absentee voting
Students from the School of Art and Design began painting a series of murals In the alley between the Nickels
Arcade and State Street near Borders Books and Music Thursday. The mural above depicts a line of ants
following each other.
By Genevieve Lampinen
Daily Staff Reporter
Every registered vote will count in
the November presidential election,
but students studying abroad will face
an especially lengthy process voting
as a Michigan resident from overseas,
said Bill Nolting, director of overseas
opportunities at the University's Inter-
national Center.
"There are some specific regula-
tions so that students from the state
have to take certain measures that
they wouldn't have to take if they were
from other states," Nolting said.
Typically, a U.S. citizen living abroad
must fill out a Federal Post Card Appli-
cation for an absentee ballot and then
mail it to election officials in order to
receive their absentee ballot.
For students whose voting residence
is Michigan, their postcards must
also be notarized. Michigan is one of
only three areas in the United States
- along with Puerto Rico and Mis-
sissippi - to require notarization of
the FPCA. A person applying for an
absentee ballot must also be able to
provide their foreign address.
Janet Afonso, program coordinator
for student international services at the
International Center, said she hopes
that students from the University who
are studying abroad in Spain - which
is the second most popular destina-
tion for American students studying
abroad, with England as the first, will
recognize how important it is to apply
for absentee ballots on time.
"All students that are going to
be abroad during the election have
already been sent two messages giv-
ing them a Web site and reminding
them that they can (apply) online and
how they can vote," Afonso said.
However, for some students in the
midst of studying abroad, taking the
time to vote isn't high on the priority
list.
"I'm not sure how (voting overseas)
will work. If it's a pain, then I prob-
ably won't do it. If it's easy, then I
will. It's probably not worth the frus-
"Don't let your
get ahead of
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tration of doing it," said LSA senior
Dan King, who will be studying in
Japan.
The Republican and Democratic
parties are campaigning for interna-
tional votes more seriously than in 2000
when President Bush won by a 537-vote
margin in Florida.
In an attempt to earn votes for the
Democrats from Americans living or
studying abroad, Diana Kerry - sister
to presidential candidate John Kerry
- has created Americans Overseas
for Kerry-Edwards, a grassroots group
aiming to register as many expatriates
as possible to vote and provide them
with absentee ballots before the Sep-
tember deadline.
"What we are trying to do basically
is because the 2000 elections were so
close, we decided it would be a good
idea to reach the seven million Ameri-
cans that live abroad," said David
Hymen communications and strategy
coordinator for AOK.
AOK has also initiated a world tour
that will travel to the 100 cities with
the most American citizens, and has a
university outreach program that will
visit 10 university campuses in Spain
with American exchange programs.
"Registering to vote and requesting
an absentee ballot isn't the first thing
on (students') minds. In the U.S. you
are bombarded by all kinds of cam-
paigns. We want to bring that energy
to students studying abroad. It's not
fair for them to be left out of that pro-
cess," Hymen added.
See VOTING, Page 9
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Post-convention p
-younger voters fav
By Justin Miller
Daily Staff Reporter
In a nation evenly divided between
the political parties, it might seem that
everything is split down the middle.
But perceptions can be deceiving,
especially among 18 to 24-year-old vot-
ers, according to a recent Washington
.P ost-ABC News poll.
Democratic presidential nominee John
Kerry is beating President Bush in
what was, as recently as April, an even-
ly split slice of the electorate. The poll,
taken after the Democratic National
Convention, showed Kerry with a two-
to-one lead over the commander in
chief among registered voters under
30 years old. Five subsequent surveys
of the youth vote since the convention
Wave shown an average 18 point deficit
for Bush among 18 to 24-year-olds.
"I don't think there's any slippage
among the Republican faithful," said
Scott Foley, chairman of Students for
Bush. "We're going to try to. reach
out to apathetic voters. We'll be cam-
paigning at football games, outside the
dorms, passing out stickers, getting
people to wear buttons, making phone
calls," said Foley, a Business student.
One reason for the slip in Bush's poll
numbers might be due to the decline
of terrorism as an issue for young vot-
ers - something that generally favors
Bush according to most polls. Only 9
percent of voters in the Post-ABC poll
said it was their top voting concern,
compared to 22 percent of total voters
in the most recent Fox News/Opinion
Dynamics poll.
"It was the war in Iraq," said Victor
Stover, a Kalamazoo College graduate,
when asked what the most important
election issue is for him. "But Kerry
hasn't pinned it down," he added.
Kerry attempted to do so last week
after answering a question Bush posed
to him about whether the senator would
have voted for the Iraq war, knowing
what he knows now.
'I would have voted for the.authority.
[il shows
or Kerry
I believe it is the right authority for a
president to have but I would have used
that authority effectively," Kerry said,
adding that he would have given United
Nations weapon inspectors more time
and worked harder to get the interna-
tional community on board.
"After that, I'd say the economy and
the environment," Stover said of the
isstes that concern him.
Economic worries were likely not
eased when the U.S. Department of
Labor reported that only 37,000 jobs
were created in July - less than the
200,000+ expected.
"It's moral values," said Ann Arbor
resident Ben Kim about his decision to
vote come November.
"I'm leaning towards Bush. I was
pretty pro-Bush last time," said Kim.
The youth vote has been on and
off for Republicans over the past two
decades. The margin of victory for
former President Ronald Reagan's re-
election was the biggest among youth
See BUSH, Page 9