No, I don’t want to undermine any concerns that bring to notice any obstruction of people’s (in this case, college students) right to vote. And yes, I do see your point that any confusion regarding where to vote will likely benefit McCain more than Obama.

But the point that I mention is along the same lines as Tom Hagan mentioned above, as well as the last paragraph of my previous comment.

While I agree that Obama will be less worse than McCain, we also need to start raising our expectations. If we continue to lower the bar and settle for “lesser evil,” things are going to get worse instead of improving. But maybe things do need to get a lot worse before they get better…

Unfortunately, AV, you did miss a very, very important context: as mentioned in the broadcast, a large majority of college students support Obama, by 2-to-1 I believe. That’s not a partisan stance, it’s just a fact. Therefore, negating these votes will inevitably have an asymmetric effect on votes that favors those who don’t want Obama in office.

If you want to undermine this concern by accusing those who raise it of partisan bias, that’s your right, but it only serves to misdirect the discussion away from the far more significant, insidious problem that’s open for abuse by Republicans, Democrats or even Martians: namely exploiting demographic quirks to skew the electoral process asymmetric political gain. Over the past decade, it happens that the Republicans have demonstrated a particular mastery of this. Someday, maybe even the Democrats will get sufficiently organized to do the same thing and it’ll be just as wrong.

“Some students are confused about where they are supposed to cast their votes. If they do the wrong thing, their votes will be disqualified. This would be a boon to Republicans, but an avoidable travesty for our democracy.”

It’s pretty clear what your assumptions are regarding those “some students” you refer to, who are confused, and which way they’re going to vote and who in your opinion is going to benefit. I’d think that students vote for both candidates – Republicans and Democrats (and third-party too), so any disqualification of votes because of confusion would affect both major parties, and not just benefit the Republicans, as you stated.

So I don’t think I misinterpreted your comment, unless I’m missing some context here.

By the way, did this particular On Point program even mention Nader, Green Party, Libertarian Party; or as usual, it reinforced the duopoly of tweedledum and tweedledee by not including any voices that are not Republicans or Democrats? If it solely focused on Reps and Dems, then that is, as Rick says – and I agree with him, “an avoidable travesty for our democracy.”

What about third party candidates? Do the editors hve any opinions about them?

Are young people content with an electoral system owned by corporate interests, where a candidate opposed by them can get no hearing at all?

Are they satisfied with “debates” controlled by the Republicrats and moderated by employees of corporatations with vested interests in the election?

Do they approve of our democracy having “the best government money can buy?”

Are they OK with having four healthcare lobbyists per member of Congress, spraying money and threats to have their way with both major parties?

AV, there’s no diguise, thin or otherwise. I’m as disgusted by the Democrats’ ineptitude as I am by the Republicans’ jack-booted thuggery. Long before they were appropriated by political parties, the terms “democracy” and “republic” were two of the founding concepts of our country and they have proven durable enough to survive Whigs, Tories, Know-Nothings, Independents, Socialists, Libertarians etc. Hopefully, the values to convey will survive Republicans and Democrats, too.

The topic at hand is voter demographics (is that another secret pro-Democrat message too?) – in this case college student voters, who appear to predominantly favor Obama – and how it can lend itself to voting manipulation tactics currently favored by Republicans.

Ha ha ha, Rick. I like how you (thinly) disguise your partisan stance and unsuccessfully try to label Republicans as anti-democracy, or rather Democrats as a boon for democracy, when both of those parties have worked really hard as spoilers and messed up the system.

By the way, just because the party is named “Democrat” it does not follow that they also support all aspects of democracy, or promote inclusive democracy. What really surprises me is that so many smart and intelligent people have this misconception that the Democratic Party is the best, and they are totally blind to its glaring faults.

Look at any McCain rally and it’s a sea of white middle-age-to-old faces. Versus an Obama rally which is a sea of diversity.

I believe supporting Senator Obama started off as a trendy thing during the primaries, but then as our economy soured and we start to see what it may be like for us as step out on our own we, young voters, are actually starting to weight the candidates policies. And, us, young voters, are finding that Obamas are more socially responsible and better overall for our collective futures-whether it be his energy policies, his tax policies, or his more diplomatic view of the world.

Personally, I think Obama is the true American, roots here and roots oceans away.

The biggest question that I would like to hear the Daily Collegian comment on is about how they are working on turnout. Many students live off-campus, and in different Townships than the Borough of State College. In the past, there has been confusion about students showing up at polling places on campus, and they live in an adjoining township and need to get to a different polling place. Sometimes, they don’t have access to easy transportation. Please comment on what efforts are addressing these issues among registered student voters. Thank you Tom.

Also, what about some of the voter caging by universities who threaten students registered at their dorm with losing their grants and financial aid?

My daughter started her freshman year and has registered to vote. She, along with the rest of her campus is overwhelmingly pro-Obama. I cannot imagine that the Karl Rove machine will not try to block their ability to vote.