CENTERBURG — Reaching out to young voters and engaging them in the political process is an important goal of both the Democratic and Republican parties. To that end, Carol Rubenstein, youth outreach coordinator for the Obama campaign in Knox County, is spearheading a nonpartisan effort to let young people know of the opportunities available to serve as volunteers at voter registration tables and booths for summer events such as First Friday and various fairs and festivals. She is also encouraging those who will be 18 years of age by the November election date to register to vote and to become knowledgeable about issues and the candidates.
On Thursday, Rubenstein coordinated at panel discussion at Centerburg High School: Students in Mike Vargo’s social studies classes were able to ask questions of representatives of the Barack Obama and John McCain presidential campaigns. Knox County Prosecutor John Thatcher, the Centerburg district representative to the Republican Central Committee for Knox County, served as the unofficial spokesman for McCain. Rence Delino, a field organizer for Obama of Ohio, represented the Democratic point of view.
The panel fielded questions from four different groups of students during the debate-style discussions; some questions were duplicated, others were not. The students asked about a range of topics including the war in Iraq, gay marriage, gas prices, illegal immigration and youth versus experience. Thatcher and Delino had two minutes to respond to each query in turn, with one minute allowed for rebuttal. Each respondent was careful to let the students know when he was presenting his own personal opinion which may or may not match the candidate’s official stance.
Rubenstein told the students that was an important point. “Just because one supports a candidate doesn’t mean you support everything the candidate does.”
Both Delino and Thatcher urged the students to get as much information about the candidates and the issues as possible. They said the students should log onto to the legislative Web sites and check each candidate’s voting record. The students were also advised to find objective, independent sources of information about issues; for example, to consult an economist when reviewing a candidate’s potential tax reform policy.
Vargo said the students in all the participating classes were very attentive. “They’re asking questions that are relevant to them,” he said. “They’re finding out what they want to know.”
A number of students completed voter registration forms during the panel, and the party representatives were encouraged by that as well as by the thoughtful questions posed by the students.
Rubenstein said she was pleased with how eager the representatives [Thatcher and Delino] were to participate. “It was a big commitment of time on their part,” she said, “and I want to give Mr. Vargo a lot of credit for thinking of the idea in the first place. I think it’s a fantastic way for young people to have a chance to ask a live body other than their teacher or their parents ‘What does this candidate think or say about this concept or this issue?’ It was a great educational opportunity.”
Rubenstein would like to replicate the opportunity at other high schools in the county in the fall.
