EDITORIAL: SGA, campus activists helping students with voter registration drives
Mark your calendars. Election Day is Nov. 8, which gives Central Michigan University students a little more than two months to choose a candidate or ballot proposals that deserve their support.
While many students feel strongly about who should or shouldn’t become the next President of the United States, some CMU students are not registered to vote.
Students cannot cast ballots if they are not registered to vote. The official registration deadline is Oct. 11.
Our student activists and professors understand the power of your vote. That’s why you’ll see at least two different registration drives happening this week on campus.
On Monday, the Student Government Association is pairing with political science professors to offer a mobile Secretary of State office outside the Bovee University Center. The mobile unit will allow students to register from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Our Revolution, an activist group continuing the work of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, will also be on campus from 12:30-2 p.m. on Monday through Thursday working to register students. The group plans to run registration drives until the October deadline.
We applaud each group’s effort to ensure students have a strong political voice. Voting is a right we all share, but the process of voting is often confusing, difficult, and mired with inequities.
Voter ID laws and constant gerrymandering are just two examples of barriers placed on voters to keep some politicians in power. They attempt to defeat opponents supported by groups like minorities, or the poor. That includes broke, politically motivated CMU students.
In Michigan, certain laws prohibit voting outside of registered precinct district. If you registered to vote with an address in Grand Rapids, you cannot vote in Mount Pleasant unless you change your local address on your state issued ID card or driver’s license.
A good portion of our student body may not know of or understand these requirements. Some students, including some Central Michigan Life staffers, have complained about this before. Either they’ll show up at the wrong polling place in Isabella County, or find out they can’t vote in the county at all — on Election Day.
U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, (D-MI), visited campus on Saturday to drum up support of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. She told Central Michigan Life reporters that the unclear district rules are among the most obvious barriers to student voting.
Adding confusion to the election-day process is a hallmark of legislators who fear students swaying elections. It’s why our elected officials haven’t exactly spelled out the rules for us in simple terms. For this reason, SGA and Our Revolution are running registration and information drives.
We ask students to research where they are able to vote, and if they registered at all.
Each of our students should visit registration stops on campus, check their district status before registering to vote in Mount Pleasant. If you do choose to vote locally, make sure you change your local address.
Students can check their registration status by visiting the Michigan Voter Information Center online at https://webapps.sos.state.mi.us/MVIC.
Your vote matters. We can hem and haw about the importance of voting, but it will be for naught if you are not registered by Oct. 11.
If you care about the future of the country, and if you care about who governs the people of Michigan, then register to vote this week. Ask hard questions from available experts.
Make sure nothing stands in the way of having your voice heard clearly on Election Day.
