Despite the flurry of voter registration and mobilization efforts that have blanketed campus, some students still do not intend to vote, while others remain unsure.
Students like Engineering sophomore Charles Choens will not be heading to the polls on Nov. 2. A registered voter in his home state of Texas, Choens missed the deadline to apply for an absentee ballot and was not particularly eager to register at his campus residence.
"No candidate really stirred me either way to register in Pennsylvania," Choens said.
Yet students who are simply uninterested in the election are fairly hard to come by. According to The Daily Pennsylvanian's Election Survey, fewer than 2 percent of students have decided not to vote in this election because they are uninterested.
Some self-described politically apathetic students are convinced that this election is worth their attention.
"I think that students on our campus feel that this election is one of the most important elections that we will face in our lives," said Jason Oberman, student co-director of "Penn Leads the Vote."
College senior Sam Hershey recognizes the importance of voting this time around -- even though he has not followed the campaign extremely closely.
"I myself am not very politically engaged, but I do believe that all of the issues are very important to us, and we should voice our opinion on them," Hershey said.
Others remain unsure of whether or not they will vote, citing a lack of passion for either candidate.
"It's like voting for the lesser of two evils," Engineering sophomore Geraud Campion said.
"There are a lot of things I hate about one guy, and then there are more things I hate about the other guy. ... I just keep going back and forth."
Campion believes that voter registration and mobilization campaigns should focus more on the candidates' positions on different issues.
"More than getting people to vote, they should inform people about who they're voting for," he said.
Difficulty distinguishing between the two major candidates has also plagued College senior Tom Di Giano, but he was able to come to a decision.
"I'm going to vote for [Sen. John] Kerry just because I think that [President George W.] Bush has done a poor job running the country, not because I particularly support Kerry," Di Giano said.
College freshman Patrick Haffey expressed similar reluctance to support either major candidate.
"I do not agree with Bush's politics, and Kerry doesn't seem like he will do better -- but he might. And on that off chance, I'll give him my vote," Haffey said.
