Page 2/The Battalion/Thursday, November 10,1983
Lawmaker seeks
high voter turnout
by John F. Barton
United Press Internationa]
WASHINGTON — Although the
1984 presidential and congressional elec
tions are a year away, a lawmaker wants
Congress to act now to bolster voter turn
out, which has declined in every pres
idential election since 1960.
Rep. Mario Biaggi, D-N.Y., who
would like a record high voter turnout
for the 1984 elections instead of a record
low, wants his colleagues to act now on
several major election reforms he has
proposed.
Biaggi believes more Americans
would vote if the United States followed
the example of some European nations
and hold presidential and congressional
elections on Sunday.
To offset the impact of early election
night projections by the media, Biaggi
wants all polling places across the country
to open and close at the same time — 12
p.m. to 9 p.m. EST — during presidential
elections, starting with the 1984 election.
The former New York City policeman
also has introduced legislation that would
spend $22.5 million over a three-year
period for “programs to instruct
teachers, students, and communities ab
out voting and its importance.”
Biaggi told colleagues in a recent floor
speech that he introduced the election
reforms because he is “deeply concerned
about our nation’s dismal voter turnout
rate.”
“Simply put, our current election pro
cess is failii
tiling us miserably,” Biaggi said.
“Due to an increasing lack of voter parti
cipation, our democratic society is grow
ing weaker while well-organized extrem
ist and special interest groups are grow
ing in power and influence.
“We must act promptly and respons
ibly to counteract this serious threat to
our democratic system,” he said.
Biaggi said voter turnout in the United
States has declined in every presidential
election since 1960, when it was 62.8 per
cent, through the 1980 election in which
only 53.9 percent of the registered voters
participated.
“The 1980 voter turnout was the
lowest for a presidential election in 32
years,” Biaggi said. Ten states and the
District of Columbia all had voter turnout
rates under 50 percent in 1980.
The situation is far worse in non-
presidential election years. Only 40.3
percent of registered voters did so in the
1982 elections.
The Census Bureau did a survey 10
years revealing that nearly half of all reg
istered non-voters did not exercise their
franchise because of difficulty in getting
time off from work, no available trans-
E ortation, or they were discouraged by
mg lines at the voting booths.
Meanwhile, Biaggi said, “very little, if
anything, has been done to overcome
these voting obstacles.”
Biaggi noted that in those European
countries where national elections are
held on Sundays, voter turnout is as
much as 30 percent higher than in the
United States.
He said Sweden, Austria, West Ger
many, France and Italy held their most
recent elections on Sunday and voter
turnout was nearly 90 percent.
Biaggi also said early election night
projections by the media have caused vo
ter turnout to drop.
He said a study released in October
1981 by the University of Michigan and
partially funded by ABC news concluded
that voter turnout dropped between 6
percent and 11 percent because of early
election result projections.
Slouch
1
by Jim Earle
“I should have told you. It’s while you’re working out in
bad news to try to chew tobacco the gym. ”
The Battalion
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GRKNADA
CAMBODIA
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A DEAD SOLDIER BY ANY OTHER NAME...
3as:
Getting his image presse
Baker makes best dress
by Bonn
Battali
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by Dick West
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Soon after Senate
Republican Leader Howard Baker was
designated one of America’s best-dressed
politicians, the list of the nation’s “most
influential women” was published.
Baker wasn’t on it.
Which probably was a good thing.
If being accused of dressing well could
incite the Tennessee senator to paroxyms
of diffidence, imagine what being called
influential might have done.
After reading that the Tailors’ Council
of America had rated him just behind
President Reagan in the government
threads department, Baker took the Sen
ate floor to confess he was, deep down, a
slob.
ranked in the top 10 among female
fashion plates.
Now anybody who reads People maga
zine regularly surely would agree that
Jackie O. is a sharp dresser. On any given
day, she probably is more smartly turned
out than Howard Baker.
But until the time of her husband’s
elevation to the White House, the then
Mrs. K had never made the best-dressed
list.
I was curious then, as now, to know
what garments she might have added to
her wardrobe to catch
apparel industry.
I never found out. And I suspect Bak
er is doomed to frustration if he pursues
the question of why he came in second in
the government category on the tailors’
best-dressed list.
the eye of the vice verse.
aturday and
9 in Rudder
with clothing, influence or sen “Summer
of achievement. ;rsaround t\
Since the Republicans renj 16 small tow
trol of the Senate in the 19H st hU ore V
Baker’s name has become sue, re , 111 ove ’
hold word he is frequently irr^,^ ^
a potential presidential candkk \y enc iy j
What he lacks in toggery tai!:y inemi ii e r
than makes up in celebrity, daughter. SI
emphasize witli sense of um ie age of asp
Members of my own house
constantly deploring my terr
wear striped shirts with plaid| J
Now I happen to be oneofiL
esthetes who can see that sk Th e follow
plaids go well together. To me, : P 011 t cl to 111
oination is every bit as snazzyt, e ? ar lmei
rumpled look.
He also professed puzzlement over
how such lists are compiled. I must say I
have at times experienced a modicum of
bafflement myself.
The year after John Kennedy was
elected president, as I recall, his wife was
The bestowers of such honors work in
mysterious ways their lists to compile. My
advice is to let slovenly clothes-horses lie.
However, two factors stand out:
1. The drafters of “best” lists go in big
for categories — government, entertain
ment, education, business, arts, media,
sports and so on.
2. Name recognition is a prime re
quisite, whether the honor is associated
Wednesday:
THEFTS:
• A silve
However, there is no doubi'om the froi
slant carping eventually takesilii' *Ared 10
can be accused of having dresxte Common
dark only so many times befort BURGLA
gins to have doubts about oneV * Change
selection. >ke machin
udding. I
Baker described himself
his showing on the tailors’ list,an: aRRFST
blame him. We tatterdemalionsi # ^ p ers(
bit of recognition, too. ealing a 1
ecans from
Letters: Senate should not
orestry Bu
as taken to
make senior finals mandatorj
Editor:
Hey, graduating seniors, how would
you like to take final exams?
A few weeks ago there was an article in
The Battalion concerning one of our Fa
culty Senate’s latest projects.
At present, professors have the option
to exempt graduating students from tak
ing final exams. The Faculty Senate
would like to see all finals mandatory!
They feel that since other Universities
do not have an optional final policy, that
we should “Be Like Other Universities.”
Texas A&M did not become the great
University it is by being like the others.
We have our traditions, with certain
academic policies being part of those.
Traditions are meant to be upheld, not
tampered with.
What about the Corps? Those who are
commissioned are busy enough without
having to contend with finals.
> Other students are also getting their
jobs and lives in order. That is certainly a
task in itself.
There is another argument the Faculty
Senate is using. They say that since the
seniors don’t have to attend class for the
last three weeks at the end of the semes
ter, they miss out on a great deal of infor
mation. After all, what is three weeks
compared to four or five years?
This University is not the “Harvard of
• the South,” it is Texas A&M. We are a
unique institution and we are proud.
r Let’s keep it that way Ags.
Scott Murray ’85
(Editor’s note: This letter was accompa
nied by 38 signatures.)
Houston, and the distance from Houston
to Washington D.C.
After a little analysis it should be
frighteningly evident that El Salvador is
closer to Houston than Houston is to
Washington.
The point I’m trying to make is that it is
time to put an end to Communist expan
sion in this hemisphere. The U.S has
been pushed, prodded, threatened and
humiliated from Vietnam to Iran, from
Iran to Lebanon, from Lebanon to Cen
tral America.
This has to stop. NOW! The President
realizes this.
President Reagan drew a line in Gre
nada. The people there rejoice! Grena
da’s neighbors rejoice! The only people
that aren’t happy (besides, of course,
those who lost loved ones in fighting) are
the Soviet Union, Cuba and a percentage
of Congress and the free world.
For Russia and Cuba to object to the
liberation of Grenada is absurd, just look
at Afghanistan and Angola. For any
member of our Congress or the free
world to object is sad at best.
Now is the time to draw the line. Not
Honduras, not Mexico. Central America
is not Vietnam, it is our back door.
Our Congress and our people abso
lutely have to awaken from the Vietnam
nightmare and open our eyes to the very
real danger that creeps steadily towards
us.
If we don’t wake up sometime in the
very near future we may very well be
asking ourselves if the Texas border is a
good place for the line to be drawn.
David R. Scarborough ’84
down and ask what heinous ci
could have perpetrated that stif
leave us witn such a system.
Returning from summer vac
stride over to Rudder Tower tof
the early interviews. I went to#
tation meeting where they explaf
new system and wasn’t pnasedi
the person doing the explaining
answer many of our questions.
I read their literature, handt
copies of my typed resume, andt
day got my pass number. No»
ready to interview!
The first two interviewersca®
milled my bid card (even fil
#2 pencil) and judiciously slid
their correct slots before the dtf
Both schedules came outandi
neither. And both had open slot
standing in two hour-long lines
aged to get signed up and askec
hadn’t appeared on the schedule
She took down all the vital static
said “You’ll hear from us.”
Several weeks went by and
three more schedules, none of*]
got on and all of which appeatf
open slots.
Back to those lines again onlyte
I had been classified on “the co®
as a junior (I am a graduate studef
to worry, I was assured all is
End Soviet expansion Interviews try patience
Editor:
I wish every member of Congress and
every citizen of the United States would
take just a moment to look at a map of the
western hemisphere.
The problem is, I’m out three
interviews, the last of the recruil
son. I realize they’re deluged up'
tb ^ 10th floor with students, be
Then I wish the same people would
measure the distance from El Salvador to
Editor:
Perhaps it’s better that I forget the
name of the recently-graduated C.S. ma
jor who designed the new interview sys
tem for the Placement Center. Should
the name come to me, I would hunt her
atx uj us?
v
I’m not going to be here fore 1
them to get the bugs worked out
last year I got on the schedules,
Douglas V.