By CHRISTA JEANNE WOODALL

As the November elections draw nigh and the 2004 campaign season opens, we ask you, our fellow Cougars: Have you registered to vote?

Much to our chagrin, we find students here in the Utah County "bubble" are probably the least political student body in the state of Utah, if not the entire nation. While students comprise roughly one-third of the Provo population, how many of us take our opinions to the polls?

Remember the American colonists' argument of "no taxation without representation?"

Right here in our own backyards, decisions affecting the student population pass through the halls of local government, like zoning regulations that kick students out of certain neighborhoods, or an ordinance prohibiting block parties in a college town, of all places.

The sad thing is how few of us pay attention.

There are those courageous students who take the time to attend city council meetings and advocate our rights.

Yet, no matter how many protests a few of our peers may hold, the student voice is drowned in a sea of voter apathy.

After all, the majority of students intend to leave Utah Valley once their time at the Y is done.

The only requirement to register to vote is to be a Provo resident for 30 days.

If you'd rather maintain voting rights in your home state, registering to vote is as easy as a few clicks to your home state's web site to register, and then a quick trip to your county registrar's home page for an absentee ballot.

In states like Arizona, you can even vote online.

In 1787, Historian Alexander Tyler laid out the progression of the world's greatest civilizations as moving "from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence, from dependence back into bondage." Tyler's quote foreshadows the journey of our nation, as we find ourselves somewhere between complacency and apathy.

Generations before us gained that courage to fight for the liberty we take for granted today, giving the last full measure of their devotion through their blood.

Our fellow Americans, don't give up your chance to make a difference, letting the right to vote slip from your fingertips because you've too tight a grasp on the remote or that pesky American Heritage book.

Let's rock the vote.