Students rock the vote

By JUSTIN HARMON/Staff

Music and politics were in the air last week as students from Virginia Highlands Community College and Abingdon High School gathered on the college’s campus for three hours for the school’s first Rock the Vote event last Tuesday.
Rock the Vote is a national bipartisan organization aimed at getting the youth of America involved in the voting process. Virginia Highlands Career Counselor and event organizer Kim Morton said the school planned the event for just that reason.
“Both parties are here to provide information, but not in a pushy way,” she said.
Morton said those at the event were given information about both parties from their respective representatives, enjoy music and even participate in a mock election.
Several bands entertained the crowds as volunteers campaigned on behalf of their chosen candidates.
“It’s awesome,” said Neal Osborne of the event.
A student at Virginia Highlands, Osborne said he felt events like this are crucial in getting young people motivated to cast a ballot.
“It’s very important,” said Osborne. “You always hear people complaining about what’s going on, but if you don’t know what the candidates stand for, you really can’t complain.”
While John McCain supporters had a booth set up at the event, Barack Obama’s supporters were out in force, dwarfing McCain’s supporters by a wide margin. However, Morton said that this didn’t necessarily mean the students were overwhelmingly in support of Obama.
According to Virginia Highlands Public Relations Officer Anne Dunham, the results of the school’s mock election did put Obama in the winner’s seat, but only by a 55/45 split.
Osborne, an Obama supporter said that he feels it will be the youth that decide the next election.
“The young people will make up the margin of victory one way or another,” he said.
Justin Harmon can be reached at 628-7101 or