The nation will find out how Georgia votes in the 2012 presidential primary next Tuesday, but on the campus of Gainesville State College, the students, faculty and staff have already made their choice. Well, sort of.

Gainesville State's Politically Incorrect Club hosted its mock presidential election Wednesday on campus, flagging down professors and students to cast their vote for who they feel should win the next presidential election.

The event, run by the students of the club, is aimed at generating interest in the political process — especially in the younger generation.

"Sadly, the age group of Americans that vote the least are young people," said Douglas Young, a political science professor and adviser for the club.

The club aimed to gauge which candidate sparked the most interest among students and faculty.

So they hit the streets and started tallying votes.

The campus favored Republican hopeful Ron Paul over Democratic presidential incumbent Barack Obama — by one vote.

Out of 543 voters, 61 percent of all participants (students, faculty and staff) cast their choice for one of the two. But Paul edged Obama out 165-164. Newt Gingrich came in third with 20 percent of the votes and Mitt Romney tallied 12 percent, leaving Rick Santorum with only 7 percent.

"We just want to make sure everybody knows, or is at least familiar with, the names of all the candidates," said Josh Austin, club treasurer and sophomore political science major. "Hopefully voting here will make them go and find out for themselves (who the candidates are) and do a little research."

What Austin and some of the other club members have found is that numerous students have no idea who the candidates are.

"I think we've had more people, so far, say ‘We don't even know who's running yet,'" Austin said. "That's unfortunate, but maybe we can change that."

But there are those on campus who see political action as a necessity among young people.

Both Kory Love, a freshman sports science major, and Brenna Lee, a sophomore early childhood education major, say they try to tune in to what is going on in the political landscape — although it can be tough at times while in school.

"(I think voting is important), but I focus on (issues) that surround my major and that affect the field that I'm going into," said Lee. "I feel it's kind of hard as a college student to be able to keep up with everything political while you're focusing on school."

Love just turned 18, so this upcoming presidential election will be his first, but that doesn't hinder the importance he puts on the process.

"I feel like everybody's opinion is important," he said.

Young said the youth vote is particularly important.

"The reality is, as I see it, young people today are not nearly as free as I was 30 years ago," he said. "It's because, for better or worse, rightly or wrongly, the size and scope of government has expanded dramatically and young people are less free today, in large measure I believe, because young people don't vote."

The president of the club, Mark Lieberman, may have summed it up most effectively.

"A lot of young people may not be interested in politics," he said. "But that doesn't mean politics are not interested in them."