Trey Grayson talked politics with Murray State students Friday. But he's not running for office. Rather he's spending time as a civics teacher as part of his efforts as Kentucky's secretary of state.
"One of the things I think holds young people back in getting involved in the community, and more specifically the democratic process, is a lack of knowledge," Grayson told an audience of about 50 students, faculty and administrators at the Freed Curd Auditorium in Murray State's Collins Center for Industry and Technology. "Those civics classes have dramatically declined."
More than anything, being involved means being educated. Grayson said newspapers and political Web sites are convenient ways to become informed about local communities, statewide issues and national trends.
"If you don't understand society and how the process works," Grayson said, "then you won't get involved - and that goes beyond voting."
Murray State was an appropriate avenue to continue promoting his message for young people to become more involved. The university is part of the American Democracy Project, an initiative that encourages civic involvement among college students at a variety of campuses that are part of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
MSU President Dr. F. King Alexander said the project has allowed national newspapers - The New York Times, The Washington Post and Chicago Tribune - to be available on campus. Alexander agreed with Grayson that reading is learning.
"It's addictive, too," he said. "I feel like I don't know what's going on when I don't read newspapers."
Alexander encouraged the student portion of the audience to take Grayson's advice of becoming an active community citizen to heart. He said young people, especially in Kentucky, need to step up and pursue leadership roles so the state doesn't experience a demographic crisis.
"Many students should see this as an important example as they aspire to leadership positions in the commonwealth and especially in western Kentucky," Alexander said while introducing Grayson.
A lifelong northern Kentucky resident, Grayson, 32, is the youngest secretary of state in the country. He serves as vice chairman of the National Association of Secretaries of State's committee on voter participation.
Grayson is a 1994 government graduate from Harvard University then went on to earn his master's in business administration and juris doctorate from the University of Kentucky in 1998.
He talked about the importance of voter participation and civics education, especially in high schools, throughout his campaign leading up to November 2003 election, when he was elected. At Murray State, Grayson spoke mainly about civic literacy and the Help America Vote Act, a federal initiative passed in 2002.
In October, Grayson helped lead a summit on civic education with nearly 170 students, teachers, elected officials, educators in conjunction with the Scripps Howard Center for Civic Literacy at Northern Kentucky University. That summit was the beginning of a multi-year effort to determine ways to increase civic education. The group will recommend a plan to improve this area for students and other Kentucky residents.
The state summit was followed by a similar event in Washington, D.C., where other states noticed Kentucky's initiative. Grayson expects results.
"We just all agreed on the problem and we didn't care about who got the credit," Grayson said Thursday. "I just had the time to lead it. The legislators had their things to do and other people had their jobs. This just happens to be part of my job. It's one thing to be in discussions of reform. It's another to reform."
While Kentucky is plagued with some voter fraud and vote buying issues, Grayson said all states have their problems with elections. In the Bluegrass, the system works well, which hasn't been the case in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The Help America Vote Act may be less than three years old, but Kentucky has been doing some of the things it requires of states for decades. For instance, the commonwealth has a statewide voter registration roll so residents can't be registered in more than one of the state's 120 counties. A lack of such a database is why Ohio ended up with more voters than people who actually live there, Grayson said.
Only six counties in Kentucky, and those are in the eastern part of the state, still have outdated voting machines. Those 100 precincts will have electronic voting machines by Jan. 1, 2006 - in time for the next election because nobody will go to the polls this year.
HAVA, which provides federal funding for some election-related improvements, also will address the need for a statewide voter database so when people move from one state to another they can't be listed in both states. Closing such loopholes, Grayson said, will reduce voter fraud.
Another area HAVA aims to improve is providing high-tech voting machines for disabled voters so they don't need assistance casting their ballots. Grayson said now many disabled people, such as those with sight problems, require assistance from another person to vote, which interferes with an individual's privacy in the booth.
For the complete story, see Friday's Ledger & Times.
Story created Jan 22, 2005 - 00:40:42 EST.