In 2008, students rocked the vote. In 2010, they barely nudged it. And, what that means for 2012 has yet to be determined.

Low voter turnout among students isn’t all that unusual, but the numbers of young voters turning out in this year’s election were particularly dismal.

In data released this week by the Douglas County Clerk’s Office, voter turnout in four of the precincts closest to Kansas University’s campus was down by 20 percent to 60 percent. The worst decline was in Precinct 10, which is entirely composed of student housing. There, just 7 percent of the precinct’s roughly 2,000 registered voters cast a ballot, which is close to a 60-percent drop from the last midterm election in 2006.

The below-average turnout among students came after a 2008 presidential election where the 18- to 24-year-old demographic showed up at the polls in historic numbers.

“They were engaged in 2008, but we didn’t see anyone try to keep that engagement,” Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew said.

Even before the ballots came in, Shew suspected voter turnout among students would be low because he saw few voter registration drives or advanced voting pushes on campus.

“Statewide or nationally, it just didn’t seem anyone was attempting to reach out to that demographic,” Shew said.

The trend was nationwide. Exit polls showed voter turnout of the young dropped to 20.4 percent, down from 23.5 percent in 2006, according to data from Rock the Vote.

KU political science professor Burdette Loomis suspects voter turnout was higher in 2006 because KU students rallied around electing Kathleen Sebelius as governor of Kansas.

“It was pretty clear that here there were no very hot races. And to tell you the truth, the large numbers of this age group in recent years and historically have been Democrats,” Loomis said. “And, Democrats had less reason to go the to polls. There was no excitement.”

With President Barack Obama’s re-election bid in 2012, Emma Halling, president of the Young Democrats of KU, hopes that excitement will return.

“Not having him hurt us,” Halling said.

Two to three times a week this fall, the organization was at Wescoe Beach asking students to register to vote. And, Halling said students just weren’t connecting with what the candidates had to say.

“They got overwhelmed by the whole health care debate,” she said. “Kids heard so many conflicting messages that they stopped listening in general.”

Halling suspects that interest might return in 2012 if students start seeing their college tuition go up.

Ashley Moretti, president of KU College Republicans, said her organization was also active this election. The group of about 20 students was part of the Clean Sweep campaign that worked to elect all GOP candidates to state and congressional races. The KU students hit the streets and worked the phone banks to get the slate of candidates elected.

“I don’t understand why kids don’t vote,” she said.

In 2012, the campus organization plans to step up its efforts.

“On campus, I know it would be a good idea to register (students) on Wescoe or through Greek houses,” Moretti said.

Ashley McMillan, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party, said there was an effort by the GOP to encourage advance voting, which would have had many KU Republicans voting by mail and through their home precincts.

“That is where we spent a lot of time,” McMillan said.

For next election cycle, McMillan said the Republican Party would be working to cultivate teams of students.

“We want to make sure we are training a new group of folks who not only want to work the campaign and election, but be in public service themselves,” McMillan said.

With Obama seeking a second term, Loomis doesn’t think the presidential race will set off the wave of political activism it did on college campuses in 2008. And, while strong campus leadership can sometime rally more people to the polls, Loomis said it very often comes down to the candidates.

“I think when you have someone you are enthusiastic about, candidates that light you up in one way or the other or some local issue, that really gets people to come out and vote,” he said.