Super Tuesday has come and gone with a significant 40% voter turnout in the state of Oklahoma. But despite the rallying calls of the campaign trail, many students didn’t make it out to vote.
There are various reasons for this, two of which can and should be addressed by student organizations and the University itself.
Students need more opportunities to register on campus.
This is actually a problem that has already received attention by some groups on campus. During the first few party debates of last semester, student organizations set up registration tables around campus to try to get students involved in the political process.
However, these organizations also had to move on to other important duties, leaving a hole where a permanent resource should be.
At the very least there should be one organization dedicated to having voter registration events several times each semester, even in years that are no large federal elections, to keep students actively participating in their civic responsibilities.
Students need access to consistent and reliable voter information.
Did you know if you are an out-of-state student, Oklahoma has a law allowing you to vote from your temporary campus address as if it were your permanent address? That means you wouldn’t have to send out for an absentee ballot or drive for two hours to go home just to vote.
This is the kind of information that most people do not have easy access to, and it is also the information that is very crucial to their decision to be an active participant in the goings on of the US. The university should facilitate student engagement by helping to make access to this crucial information available to all of its students.
So please TU, help the students rock the vote.
