By this time next week, students will have received their ballots in the mail. Make sure to vote! Could this point be made any more clearly to students, or by any more groups or organizations? Probably not. Readers may have noticed the Emerald’s election coverage, both on the editorial page and in the rest of the newspaper. We will continue this into next week, offering information and analysis about what’s at stake in this presidential and state election season.
A few state ballot measures to be decided could severely affect University funding. Other ballot measures could affect the way elections are run, the way the state raises money, the way laws are made and the way campaign dollars are raised. These are big questions that will determine the makeup of our society. Students need to make their voices heard.
No one has done a better job of raising student awareness about the election than the ASUO. Congratulations are due for a job well done. Thanks to the hard work of campus student government, more than 5,500 new student voters were registered, making the University first in the nation in new student registration. The registration drive started before the first day of classes and continued through Tuesday, the final day new voters were allowed to sign up.
The effort doesn’t stop there, however. Now that the campus population is registered, the ASUO will spend the next three weeks educating students about the issues. Yes, there are 26 measures on the ballot. No, that isn’t a student phone directory in your mailbox, it’s the Voters’ Guide. Student government members will be offering detailed information about the measures that affect the University. Don’t be scared by the quantity of issues into ignoring the important ones.
Thanks to the ASUO, the University is first in sort of an odd way, as well: The world’s largest ballot box has been built and will be erected on campus shortly. It may seem like a campy, over-the-top idea, and it is. But it’s also a good, visible symbol of the power and importance of student votes.
Older folks in our society get a lot of courting by candidates and a lot of attention from legislators all over the country. This isn’t just out of respect for one’s elders: Older people get out and vote, so lawmakers pay attention to their issues. College students, with a recent history of low voter turnout, are generally ignored.
College students are the next generation of leaders, however. In order to change this country (or in order to keep it exactly the same, if that’s what you’re about), students need to vote and get their concerns heard. When the older adults see that students take their role in the world seriously, they will pay attention. College-age people are often regarded as nothing more than an easy demographic. They buy stuff, sure. But don’t students have more important things to say than what brand of jeans they like best? For the sake of the future, we hope so.
So when your ballot comes next week, don’t put it on a pile in your living room and forget about it. Take your Voters’ Guide out from under that stack of pizza boxes. Then, when you see the world’s largest ballot box, remember what’s at stake — and vote.