Andre Heinz rallies students

Kayla Webley
2004-10-11
The Daily

Andre Heinz, encouraged students to vote, not because John Kerry is his step-father, but because, youth voters have the potential to swing the election, he said.

"You have to vote because you will make the difference in this election," said Heinz to a crowd of students in the HUB on Friday.

Heinz, 34, is on a campaign tour, mainly making stops at colleges, to speak to youth about voting.

"I am talking to college students, predominantly, and explaining to them why their vote matters and why I think John Kerry deserves their vote," said Heinz.

The event, sponsored by the UW chapter of Young Democrats, was brought to UW to rally students to be active participants in the election process.

"We brought him in to speak about the importance of youth participation in the Heinz straightforward style," said Brendan Levy, president of UW Young Democrats.

Heinz's speech focused mainly on the impact youth voters can have in the election, particularly because students are not accurately represented in the polls. Election polls, which measure likely voters, showed a poor youth voter turnout in the 2000 election.

"Students are not showing up in the polls," said Heinz. "In very real terms this election is in your hands."

Heinz, who is known for his work in environmental activism, urged students to vote for a change in environmental policy, rather than doing nothing and complaining about the results.

"We can't complain about what's happening to the environment, we can't sit there and tell our grandkids how there used to be salmon in our rivers, or there used to be mountains with trees on them, or there used to be fish that we could eat, or that there used to be kids who were not born with learning disabilities because of pollution contamination," said Heinz. "You can't sit there and think that that is your future if you have a chance to change it."

Sybil Grant, a coordinator for the Kerry-Edwards Washington campaign, hoped the event would educate students on how much weight the youth vote can potentially carry in the upcoming election.

"We wanted to get some young people in here to talk to other students about the importance of voting," said Grant. "(Heinz) has really turned his passion for the environment into action. We have him here to share that experience with these young people, who likewise believe that this country is headed in the wrong direction, but they don't necessarily know what to do about that."

Katherine Lawyer, a freshman at the UW, came to the event to show her support for Kerry.

"I am really in support of Kerry, I feel that he is going to be a better president," said Lawyer. "I didn't get the chance to go and see Teresa (Heinz Kerry), so I thought I would come to this instead."

Heinz urged students to not simply accept the way the country is but instead make change by voting.

You can't complain about (Attorney General John) Ashcroft when you have the chance to write your own Patriot Act, it's called voting," said Heinz.