When 28-year-old Mike Pfahl ran for Kent City Council in 2007, he wanted to give students a person to come to with their problems.

“Students in residential housing who have a landlord who’s screwing them, don’t think about going to their council person,” Pfahl said.

He wanted to change that, so he campaigned.

Pfahl knocked on eligible voter’s doors, mailed information and registered people to vote. He worked hard for each of his 109 votes.

But he didn’t win.

Even though he was running for the students, they were the ones who stayed home. Only 10.9 percent of voters in the Ward 5 primary were between ages 18 to 30, according to the Portage County Board of Elections.

“It isn’t whether the students will vote, ‘cause they won’t,” Pfahl said. “It’s whether the people in the town will vote for a student.”

Junior advertising major David Oltmanns said he doesn’t vote in local elections because he doesn’t hear enough about issues to understand them.

“A lot of people just live here during the school year,” he said. “They probably care more about their hometowns, like local elections and stuff like that.”

Bill Bias, president of Athens City Council, where at least four students have served on council, said many students never adopt Athens as their home.

“Students have enough people in every ward to control every race,” Bias said, adding that they choose not to.

During the 2007 general election, Ward 4 Councilman John Kuhar was elected with just 26 votes.

Joseph Salem, head of reference and government information services, has watched the election process during his 10 years at Kent State. He said students have low voter turnout but are becoming increasingly engaged in politics.

In the 2008 presidential election, 23 million people under age 30 voted. That was nearly 15 percent more than the 2004 election, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

Presidential elections generally draw the most voters.

“Voting drops off so drastically when it’s not a presidential election,” Salem said. “Overall, it’s a larger problem than KSU students.”

The deadline to register for this November’s midterm elections is Oct. 4. Students can register online at Vote411.org or at the Ohio Secretary of State website. Registration can also be completed until 9 p.m. on Oct. 4. at the Kent State Library Reference Desk.

Pfahl said it is still important to be informed and active in the election process, even when residing in a different place.

“No matter how nice students are to their neighbors, they will be always be temporary residents,” he said. “The question is do they want their voice as a temporary resident to be heard?”

Contact Jamie Shearer at [email protected] and Elizabeth D’Aurora at [email protected]