Written by: Julie Kline

Many student voters are still undecided going into Tuesday’s presidential election.

“Both men have good ideas, but neither candidate fits my specific needs,” said senior communication major Charli Transue.

In key swing states — such as Ohio — there are about 900,000 undecided voters, according to an article published by NPR.

One reason for indecision in swing voters is the lack of knowledge about the candidates. Dr. Lynn Vavreck, professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles, has been following trends in a large group of American voters throughout 2012.

“It isn’t that they’re looking at Mitt Romney and looking at Barack Obama and weighing them: they’re not looking yet,” she said to NPR in October.

She noted that 7 percent of the voters she’s been studying have changed their minds over the course of the year.

There are many voting resources available online. The first step in picking a candidate, according to smartvoter.com, is for the voter to decide upon the issues that he or she sees as most important, and then to find out where both candidates stand on those issues.

Another cause of indecision is a sense of hopelessness in the presidential candidates. Vanessa Carter, a junior studying media production, was very clear about her feelings on the candidates.

“I think either way we are doomed,” she said.