Letter: Students should vote in 2016


To the Editor:

Central Michigan University’s Register, Educate, Vote CMU (REVCMU) is asking students if they dare make their dreams come true and share Martin Luther King, Jr.’s visionary dream of an America where every voice counts.

Many students do not vote simply because they haven’t educated themselves on politics, the candidates or the issues at stake.

Another, somewhat surprising reason is many haven’t registered to vote. REVCMU is an on-campus organization created to inform students they have the right to be heard. REVCMU is available to help students register, to educate them about the issues and to support them as they exercise their American right to vote.

The road to voting equality was a long one, starting when only white, property-owning 21-year old men could vote, to 1920 when the 19th Amendment passed, giving women the right. Then in 1965, hundreds of people marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama to gain the right to vote for people of color.

The right to vote for these and other groups was not granted overnight. Cold nights were spent in jail, blood was shed and lives were lost. Why then, do many in our society take for granted the right to vote?

REVCMU is available to help everyone register, become educated and vote.

Students can come to the Bovee University Center Rotunda on Tuesday, Jan. 19 and register to vote with the Mobile Secretary of State, learn about how the privilege of voting has been secured, how it is being challenged today. They can also educate themselves to cast an informed ballot in November.

Martin Luther King Jr. gave his life for his dream. What are CMU students willing to give?

Sincerely,

Rayna Oswald

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