On-campus voter registration leads to a rise in political ability

Clipboard bearers have been stopping and asking students all over campus if they have registered to vote from the beginning of the academic year.  Voters must be registered by Oct. 9 to vote in the presidential election on Nov. 6, according to aclupa.org.

Dameda Moore (junior, nutrition) is one of the volunteers trying to get students to register.  She said that by registering to vote on campus, students won’t have to travel to vote at their home polling location or file for an absentee ballot.

Although she volunteers through the Indiana County Democratic Headquarters, she said she is on campus to register all students, not just one particular party.  Tanisha Moore (junior, chemistry) said that not all students have reacted well to being asked.

“Some say they don’t believe in government,” she said.  Others don’t care, or say that either way we’re screwed. People feel like one vote won’t matter.”

Some people will say they have registered to just get by, but eventually after being asked for the third time, they will stop and register, she said.  Not everyone has reacted negatively to registering to vote.

Mike Hallinan (senior, English) and Carrie McGraw (senior, English) both registered to vote while sitting on a bench in the Oak Grove.

“It was really easy,” Hallinan said.

He said that he had already registered, but he wasn’t sure if he was registered on campus, so he did it again to be safe.

Hallinan said he thought registering to vote and voting were important.

“If you have a choice, why not make it?” he said.

He said that if someone does not vote, then they don’t have the right to complain if things don’t turn out how they would like.

The volunteers said that they want to get at least 6,000 students registered of the 15,000 students on campus.  They said they have more than 2,000 already, and that they process many forms each day.

Dameda Moore also said that she has been informing students about the new voter ID law and telling students to bring both their I-Card and driver’s license to the voting poll.

Voter locations on campus will differ depending on where students live, but will be made available when the electron draws closer.  Tanisha Moore also said she wants to clarify that registering to vote is not signing up for the draft or jury duty.