Wednesday night’s presidential debate drew out a couple hundred college students to watch at Lipscomb University. The Christian school’s namesake famously argued believers should not vote, but more than a few there are planning to.
Like Tennessee overall, an unscientific poll of Lipscomb students leans Republican. A few say they’re hoping to get more mileage out of their vote by being registered in states where the outcome is less certain, like Colorado and Pennsylvania.
22-year-old Ryan Malone graduated from Lipscomb last year, and now works on campus. He says he voted for Obama in 2008, but he might not do it again.
“He built up a lot of hype for himself in 2008, and I was young and excited about politics and hadn’t really had a chance to become jaded by the whole process yet. So now it’s more – I have to put in more of an effort to participate in a system that I feel is broken.”
At least one student who watched the debate said he’d given thought to the argument against voting altogether, but said he is planning to register. For Malone’s part, he feels it’d be “disrespectful” to squander a chance to vote.
The last day to register in person is Monday. Mail-ins must be postmarked by this weekend.
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