Two students stood on the steps of the Delaware County building last Sept. 17, each holding a sign made out of butcher-block paper and written on with magic marker.
One read "Informed enough to be here." The other simply stated "Enough is enough Republican tactics."
The statements resided from comments Delaware County Republican Chairwoman Kaye Whitehead made in a Sept. 8 article of The Star Press.
Whitehead said, if the early voting center was passed, it would cause "uninformed students to go to the polls" and "students would be more vulnerable to a concerted effort to buy votes with freebies, such as hot dogs."
Whitehead said the comments were taken out of context, but that didn't prevent the remarks from burning through campus like a raging wildfire.
That day, the election boardroom was standing room only.
Allison Nimtz presented in front of more than 40 students a petition with 841 signatures in support of the motion to allow an early-voting site at Ball State University.
The issue stirred up one of the more heated arguments in The Ball State Daily News within the past year.
Ball State's apathy - the same apathy the rest of the 18-to-29-year-old voting block has acquired - was willed away by a few insulting words, an important issue and the fight between the traditionally liberal college student and the stereotypical old Republican trying to stifle the youth vote.
If there was a hailstorm of controversy from Whitehead's comments, her words made a point. The two students standing on the steps that day proved her point.
Whitehead's words labeled you and your peers uninformed, easily swayed and stupid. But her quote also showed us something true about the reason why we cast our ballots.
The Ball State student vote is apathetic because we have to be insulted before we care.
The youth vote is like Las Vegas to many politicians. We're bright, shiny and attractive, but you can't bet your political livelihood and expect the cards to be there for you in the end.
The numbers on the Delaware County Clerk's Web site don't lie.
Ball State sits in precinct 26. During the Indiana Democratic primary, it registered 1,317 voters out of a student population of more than 18,000. Only 282 people cast their ballots.
This was after Hillary Clinton came to Muncie, Chelsea Clinton spoke in the Atrium and Barack Obama addressed Irving Gym. It was the most national attention Muncie and Ball State have ever had.
Obama has been lucky betting on the student demographic so far. There was always a decent chance he wouldn't get out of Iowa with such a gamble.
There will always be students who live and breathe political activism.
In the aftermath of Whitehead's statements, many members of University Democrats and College Republicans were scurrying around campus trying to get their peers to drop their apathy. Nimtz's 841 petition signatures proved that people could show bipartisan support for an issue.
Their action demonstrated what happens when students do care. Imagine what can happen if more than 18,000 young people spend less time chatting and more time acting.
It shouldn't take insults or hurtful words to prompt students to stand on the steps of government buildings holding homemade signs. The same passion those two students displayed should always be present whether it is an election year or not.
Bob Culp is a junior journalism major and writes 'The Next Level' for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper.
Write to Bob at rlculp@bsu.edu
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