News
Super Tuesday Not A Hot Topic Among International Students
By: Amarens ten Bruggencate
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International student Xiaoxu Wang did not know what to do with a flyer she received this morning, suggesting she vote for a candidate for Athens County commissioner.
His name did not ring any bells, although Wang says she might have seen it before on a sign in somebody's yard.
"It seems like there's an election of something," Wang says, holding on to her flyer, "but I am not familiar with it."
Like Wang, some international students interviewed on Ohio University's campus, say they don't exactly know what is going on.
Other students say they have an idea of what Super Tuesday means, but they are not very interested.
"I would care more if there were elections in my own country," says South Korean student Hyeran Chung. "In the United States, I don't have the right to vote."
This lack of a right to vote is an important reason for most international students' disinterest in Super Tuesday.
Patraphol Wifuthimarkul, who is a student from Thailand, says he might start following the actual elections in November.
Wifuthimarkul noticed that the way of campaigning in Thailand is different from American campaigning.
"We don't put signs in our yards," Wifuthimarkul says. "And the signs don't just have the names of candidates on them."
In addition to the candidate's name, Wifuthimarkul says Thai election signs often show a brief summary of the candidate's policy goals.
Thailand is not the only country where election activities differ from American practices.
WOUB reporter Tina Kühne, who is from Germany, says that in her country elections are held on Sundays and not on weekdays like in the US.
In another country, The Netherlands, voting booths were placed in 45 of the country's railway stations during parliamentary elections.
Dutch media report more than 40,000 people used this opportunity to vote "on the go."