Samantha Chaffin
Editor-in-Chief
Midterm elections and drawing to a close, as is the season of several groups of fall athletes here at Idaho State University.
A few weeks ago, I mentioned the midterm election as campaign materials made their way into the Pocatello and ISU communities. As election season winds down, so too will the flood of signs in the community.
Unfortunately, what won’t wind down immediately is the number of opinions voiced by those who are disappointed or unhappy with the turnout of this election. What’s worse is that most of those opinions will come from people who didn’t turn out to vote in this election, and many who aren’t even registered voters in Idaho.
Prior to the election, it was predicted that only 58 percent of Idaho’s registered voters would turn out on Election Day, and most of those would be in the age group of 59 and older.
This is unacceptable.
Contrary to commentary made recently by Kim Guilfoyle of Fox News about younger, “uneducated” voters needing to stay home and get back on Tinder or Match.com, what actually needs to happen is for that younger age group to get interested, get educated and get involved.
The apathy that has overtaken many has created a vicious circle of excuses, frustration and a lack of interest.
Here at ISU, this apathy finds its way to athletic events and club activities.
I constantly hear students saying they don’t attend athletic events because “we always lose anyway,” or “our team sucks” yet that clearly isn’t the case.
ISU Football is currently 4-1 in conference and is tied for first place. The team has its best shot at the playoffs in years.
Women’s Volleyball currently stands 11-1 in conference play, with Hayley Farrer recently named Big Sky Player of the Week.
Meanwhile, Men’s and Women’s Basketball both marked a W in their recent exhibition match-ups, Women’s Soccer is headed to the Big Sky Championships after another winning season, and Cross Country saw the women finish fifth and the men finish ninth during the recent Big Sky Championships.
Despite these accomplishments, Bengal matchups don’t see packed houses, and the sidelines of our cross country races aren’t lined with spectators.
We have 133 registered ISU clubs this year, yet people say they aren’t interested enough to get involved in one, or start their own.
We need to see a turnaround in the orange and black apathy roaming campus, or all we’ll have left is a vicious circle full of frustrated, excuse-making disinterested people.
