Bowdoin students may think their November 4 vote won't count.
They should think again.
According to Town Clerk Fran Smith, about 1,200 Bowdoin students, a figure which may include recent alumni, are currently registered to vote in Brunswick. That number will likely increase over the next two weeks since students can register up to and even on Election Day. Bowdoin students are divided up into four different town voting districts and two state representative districts based on their addresses.
Smith said that the last presidential election generated a significant amount of interest from students. According to a report by the Bowdoin College Democrats, 796 Bowdoin students voted in 2004; in a town of 21,000, the influence of this voting bloc is undeniable.
"The college community is definitely an important voting demographic that can influence Brunswick politics," said Democratic candidate for Maine State Representative for District 66 Alex Cornell du Houx '08.
Cornell du Houx's opponent, Republican Jon Crimmins, said that in the past Bowdoin students have been the "whipping boy" for whichever party lost.
"If I lose, I'm not going to blame them," Crimmins, who serves as Chair of the Brunswick Republican Party, said. "I'm not so concerned about the impact they have, as long as it's well thought out. If I lose because someone is critically thinking and decides the other person is a better candidate, then that's okay."
"Bowdoin students have the potential to make or break a local election, certainly in the state house race," said Chair of the Brunswick Democratic Party Greg Howard.
Howard said he "absolutely" considered Bowdoin students an important demographic to reach out to.
"We want them to exercise their right to vote and be heard, and to be a resource in terms of bodies who want to help," he said.
The Brunswick Democratic Party has worked closely with the College Democrats to provide information on the candidates and issues. The College Democrats, in turn, have assisted regularly with phone banking and canvassing, mostly for the Obama campaign.
"The issues Bowdoin students care about align with most of the Democratic candidates in Brunswick, which should help the Democratic candidates in 2008," said Cornell du Houx.
"We're [voting] in the first congressional district, which ends up going Democrat, so in terms of the Senate race, we'll probably see a lot of support for Tom Allen," said Claire Cooper '09, co-president of the Bowdoin College Democrats. "This tends to be reflected on the local level, as well."
According to Cornell du Houx, each year, Republicans try to introduce bills that will change the Maine state law to prevent out-of-state college students from voting in Maine.
"When Republicans introduce bills to prevent college students from voting, it's a political ploy to disenfranchise college students because they know most students support democratic issues," said Cornell du Houx.
Crimmins said he would not fight the current state law, but he emphasized the need for students to be informed. Their vote "will impact people who live here for years, decades, even a lifetime," he said. "Those decisions can't be taken lightly."
Crimmins said that some Brunswick residents resent Bowdoin students as members of a "transient community" who do not stay after graduating to see the effects of their vote.
"People in Maine are worried that one, we don't understand the issues, and two, we won't live through the consequences because so many students leave after college," said co-head of the Bowdoin College Republicans Jeffrey Jeng '09. "But this is not a sufficient reason for discouraging college students from voting."
In response to potential criticism, Town Council member Newell Augur said that current students "are serving as a proxy, in essence, for Bowdoin students who will be here five, 20, even 50 years from now."
"Bowdoin is an important part of the town, and to the extent that Bowdoin students are persuaded or moved to participate in local politics, we're a better town for it," he said.
Bowdoin students will affect congressional and presidential outcomes to a lesser degree since they make up a smaller portion of the voting pool.
"As far as swaying [results] one way or the other, they're basically irrelevant," said Professor of Government Christian Potholm. "Voter turnout in this election will be so overwhelmingly high that the student dimension will be diluted."
Potholm said he also believed that Bowdoin students would have no impact on the state-wide ballot questions. "The tax on soda [Question 1] will be defeated immediately anyway," he said.
The Town Clerk's office will hold absentee voting and voter registration at Smith Union on Saturday, October 25 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.