OK, it’s really time for you to register to vote.
Assuming you’re reading this at the start of your 9:00 a.m. class, you’ve got just under eight hours before the voter registration deadline. That means that before you eat dinner tonight, you’ve got to fill out a voter registration card and get it into the hands of one of our wonderful Student Vote Coalition volunteers. You’ve seen us around campus; we’re the ones in the red shirts.
This is important, because students in Oregon are in serious trouble. We pay more and more for our education every year, and every year we get less and less for our money. We can change this sorry situation, but we’ve got to register and vote. Students don’t have a ton of money or influence to give to political candidates, so if we don’t vote, we can’t expect them to pay any attention to us.
The good news is that students do vote and our elected officials do listen. The Student Vote Coalition registered more than 7,500 voters on the University of Oregon campus in 2004, and more than 33,000 statewide. In the following legislative session, students won a significant victory as funding for need-based aid was increased.
I’ve talked to a lot of students over the last few weeks, and I haven’t met one person who didn’t have a reason to vote. Legislative elections have the potential to determine how much money is available for higher education for years to come. We all pay tuition and taxes, and we’ve got opinions on health care and abortion. All of those issues are on the ballot this year.
And students will decide these elections. Ballot measures in Oregon routinely pass or fail by thousands of votes; candidates for the state legislature are elected by hundreds. Some particularly close races are decided by less than that.
And if, amongst all that, you still can’t find a good reason to get out and register to vote? As one political science professor said when I stopped by his class last week, you might as well just move to Iran.
Emily Mclain
ASUO State Affairs Coordinator