An empty campus forecasts low turnout

The expression goes: If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it still make a sound?

A similar question might need to be asked by Penn student political groups this spring; Philadelphians will likely be choosing the next mayor of the city on May 15 - the day after Commencement.

In other words, most Penn students won't be around campus come the primaries and will have to vote absentee if they want their votes counted.

Top political analysts are thus skeptical of the true power of the Penn vote, even in a close election.

Noted Democratic political adviser Neil Oxman, for example, estimates that only a couple hundred Penn undergraduates will bother to take the time to fill out their absentee ballot information and actually vote.

Getting out the Penn vote, therefore, will largely be the responsibility of the Penn Democrats in the coming months.

One of the largest organizations on campus, the Penn Dems plan to register about 1,000 voters through an e-mail campaign as well as through flyering on Locust Walk, club president and Wharton sophomore Clayton Robinson said.

The group will also set up a phone bank for those students they register and will call them repeatedly to ensure that they fill out absentee-ballot applications. Lastly, they will make themselves available to any students who want the group to transport their absentee ballots to City Hall, Robinson added.

The Penn Dems do have a history of impacting voter turnout. Take, for example, November's midterm elections, in which the group knocked on over 15,000 doors in support of Patrick Murphy, the Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania's eighth congressional district and an eventual winner by only 1,500 votes.

But whatever the organization has been able to accomplish in the past, political director and College freshman Lauren Burdette said the Penn Dems realize increasing voter turnout in May is a large hurdle to climb.

"The whole process [of voter turnout] is 10 times more complicated" because Penn students will be voting absentee, Burdette acknowledged.

Robinson agreed, saying that "there are a lot of logistical hurdles" to Penn student turnout this race, and that there is a big difference between the upcoming election and those elections that fall during the school year.

While he can't promise the thousands of votes needed to make Penn students a powerful voting bloc, Robinson does "know we're going to try," especially given the high numbers of Penn students registered to vote in Philadelphia.

On more of a citywide scale, the Penn Dems will be endorsing a candidate Monday and will be throwing its manpower behind that candidate by way of grassroots efforts such as door-to-door canvassing.

As for the College Republicans, its role is easier - because there are no Republican candidates, the group won't be supporting anyone, says Chairman Michael Shiely, a Wharton junior.

He does say, however, that out of a field of candidates in which "no one seems like they know what they're doing," Tom Knox would be his personal choice.

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