The Daily Campus

Issue date: 11/6/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Amanda Spinelli Joe Courtney, seen here visitng UConn in April, spoke about the importance of the youth vote on Monday.

Youth voters aged 18 to 29, which Rep. Joe Courtney (D-2nd) referred to as the sleeping giant, can have a direct impact on national elections, he said at the Student Union Monday.

UConnPIRG hosted Courtney to recognize the work he did in helping to pass the College Cost Reduction and Access Act - which was a bill signed into law in September that increased federal financial aid spending to $20 billion - the largest increase in financial aid since the G.I. bill in 1944.

The age group is gaining momentum across the country as voter turnout rates continue to grow, Courtney said. The rate is close 50 percent, which is significantly higher than in the past.

"There's no question that there's improvement," Courtney said. "You're flexing your muscles and demanding change."

Courtney recognized that the 900 students, most of whom voted for democrats, helped elect him to Congress in 2006 in the closest election in the country. Courtney beat former Rep. Rob Simmons by 82 out of 241,000 votes, he said.

"Number one: change in Washington is happening," Courtney said. "Number two: you had an impact on that change."

In last year's election, Trea McPherson, a 7th-semester political science major, lead UConnPIRG in getting UConn students to vote.

"It's great that UConn students could make a difference in a national election," McPherson said. "Traditionally, young voters are known for being apathetic."

UConnPIRG, the College Democrats, and USG are working to get people registered to vote in the upcoming February presidential primaries, McPherson said.

"We're starting early this year," he said. "We want to get as many people registered to vote in next fall's presidential election as possible. There is only so much time from when the semester starts to the presidential election."

McPherson also lobbied for the College Cost Reduction and Access Act in Washington, D.C. this past September.

The law increases the Pell Grant, which is a grant that is primarily given to students from lower-income families, from $4,050 to $5,400 over the next five years, said Jean Main, director of financial aid at UConn.

Continued...

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