A group of 49 Florida State University students from the College Democrats and Students for a Democratic Society marched from campus to downtown Tallahassee carrying signs and chanting in protest of the Florida Legislature’s decision to move the Florida primary from February 5th to January 29th. Florida’s decision – which effectively forfeited half of it’s Republican delegates and all of its Democratic delegate in an effort to make an early mark in the primaries – allowed Florida voters to cement John McCain as the Republican frontrunner, while having no impact on the Democratic side, whose candidates agreed not to campaign in the state. The protesting students argued that giving up the state’s delegates at the parties’ national conventions disenfranchised them and other Florida voters.. Despite the lack of delegates, the youth vote drastically increased in Florida. According to the Florida Public Interest Research Group, the number of Democratic and Republican voters between the ages of 18 and 29 has more than tripled since the year 2000.

Read more from the University of Massachusetts

Read more from Florida State University