Ohio absentee voters could decide national election

Being too late with an assignment often results in a slap on the wrist or maybe a couple percentage points taken off a student's final grade.\nBut when sophomore Erik Styacich was told he was too late, he might have decided the 2004 presidential election.\nStyacich is from Ohio, a state that is completely deadlocked, according to an average of all polls from Oct. 20 through 30 listed on the Real Clear Politics Web site. But voters not taken into account by the polls are those who will vote absentee.\nMany of IU's students call Ohio home, and contrasted to the all but sealed fate of Indiana's electoral votes, they feel they can make a real difference voting back home.\n"There's a definite impact," said Ohio native and IU senior Marc Magill. "The fact that Ohio is such a swing state it makes your vote count even more. Democrats in Indiana lose value because you know you already lost and you want your vote to make a difference. That's what elections are all about."\nOhio, Florida and Pennsylvania are predicted to be the three crucial states in Tuesday's election with 68 electoral votes riding on their fates. Between those three states, none is closer than Ohio according to the RCP poll average.\nIn the 2000 election Florida was decided by 537 votes, and some Ohio counties are already expecting upwards of 100,000 absentee votes. The 2004 election could very well be won or lost by the absentee voters of Ohio.\n"For those students whose parents live in Indianapolis and they go to school in Ohio," said Political Science Professor Mike Wagner. "It makes no sense for them to vote absentee because we know how it's going to end in Indiana. We don't know how it's going to end in Ohio."\nNeither candidate has been shy about the importance of Ohio as both spent much of their final weeks in the state. As recently as Sunday, Bush spoke in Cincinnati in hopes of gaining the final edge. \nThe real X-factor behind student absentee voting is the pure hassle the entire process provides. Absentee voters need to call their home city, have a form sent to them, fill out the form, send that in, then wait to receive their ballot, fill it out, mail it, all several weeks before Nov. 2 even rolls around. \n"It's probably easier to vote here," IU College Democrats Vice-President and senior Peter Cheun said. "So anyone who votes absentee in their home state would really have to want to."\nStudents have poor enough voter turnout as it is, let alone taking the time to vote absentee. But this year's election is different, Wagner said. There appears to be a much larger interest and an influx of student voters could very well affect the outcome of a race, especially in a state like Ohio.\nGranted, when Styacich lagged a little bit with a homework assignment, he may have known it would affect the next seven weeks of his class. \nBut with Ohio standing as close as it is, lagging on that absentee ballot may affect the next four years of his life.\n-- Contact staff writer Brian Janosch at bjanosch@indiana.edu.