Push for voter registration on campus unappreciated
Wednesday, October 1, 2008; 10:28 PM
It's 10 a.m. on Tuesday and I'm sitting at Au Bon Pain quietly enjoying a cup of tea with one of my friends.

We're not bothering anybody; we're just trying to catch up with each other's busy lives, and in the middle of our conversation we're interrupted. Rudely, I may add. Without so much as an excuse me, some girl is butting into our conversation and asking, "Um, so are you registered to vote?"

Boy, if I had a dollar for every time I've heard that same question in the last few weeks here on campus. We politely told her we were both registered and went back to our conversation, leaving her to find some other table to harass with her intruding question.

We finished our talk, and as we were leaving, I ran into another friend and I sat back down to briefly chat with her. Wouldn't you know, not five minutes later, I was again stopped mid-sentence by the infamous one liner: "Um, so are you registered to vote?" I looked up and darn if it wasn't the same girl! It hadn't even been 40 minutes since she last asked me! To be fair, maybe I wouldn't have faulted her had I undergone a massive makeover in the intervening time, but I looked no different. I was even in the same seat.

Needless to say, once she saw my face scrunch up in anger and annoyance, she beat a hasty retreat.

What is the point of all my frustrations this morning? I'm sick and tired of being asked whether I am registered to vote or told that I need to register to vote. I am a civic-minded person and believe me, the day after I turned 18, I registered to vote. What I find more interesting is that in the four years I've been here at Virginia Tech, this is the only year I've been bombarded with repetitive questions around every corner on campus. And it's not even avoidable off campus -- every time I turn on the television I see an ad endorsing voter registration, sponsored by my favorite voice of "Hope." Please.

If my vote matters so much, why wasn't I asked to register before now? I'm a political science major, involved in several political organizations. Has anyone come picketing our meetings and shoving clipboards and pens at me before 2008? Nope, nada, zilch.

What else can I conclude but that my vote only counts in presidential election years, and even then only if I support a particular candidate? Because in case you haven't checked recently, or if you've just trained your eyes to slide out of focus when approached by voter registration folks on campus, look closely at those people and those television ads I mentioned earlier.

The people wear Obama '08 buttons and the TV ads have endorsed-by-Obama images at the end of them. Have you seen John McCain voter registration drives? I didn't think so.

But to the original point -- why the sudden drive now? If we are told to register to vote here in Blacksburg because absentee ballots can be lost and our vote consequently not count, doesn't it run counterintuitive that my voter registration hasn't been sought here in the 540 before? If my vote wasn't actively bargained for in the gubernatorial race in 2005, or the Congressional races of 2006 and 2007, why now is it being hunted as an animal? Furthermore, is my intelligent, informed vote desired or merely just a vote based on the thinnest of surface examinations of a particular candidate?

I'm afraid that the latter is of more paramount importance to some candidates (cough, Obama).

How so? He's been actively endorsing voter registration drives and I ask you -- who is not registered to vote yet? By and large, it is uneducated, uncaring, non-civically inclined citizens.

If they haven't wanted to have a personal say in the past elections in which they've been eligible to vote, why on earth would you want them to vote now? Do you really think overnight they've developed the personal drive to make informed voting decisions? No, Obama is just hoping they'll register and then make an ill informed sketch decision in his favor.

Think about it -- if you've been eligible to vote in the past, and you register to do so now just because Obama is endorsing it, it's an insult to you -- you're just affirming his opinion that you are an ignorant person whose vote can be bought. Who wants such an insult? And maybe that's why I get so irritated by the constant voter registration questions -- I already chose to be an active citizen and I resent the assumption that I am just an easy vote. So next time someone asks you whether you're registered, please think about it, and then feel free to be ticked off.

You might be interested in... Related Topics: obama, voting, voter registration
Posted by: Brian Wheeler at Oct 30 Kyle Minor, I think your comment, posted a few comments ago, is dead on. A Republic is what we have. Great writing. Trying to rally millions of unregistered voters to your campaign screams "scam." Flag Abuse
Posted by: Brandon Carroll at Oct 29 If Obama wins the US will fall to the deepest depths it has ever seen. Not only would he be a terrible president because he is inexperienced, but he has no understanding of our current economic state. He would spend money we don't have, raise taxes, pull out of a war that we absolutely can't pull out of, not get and of this 'change' ever taken place, and continue to lie about everything. You have to be an idiot to believe his healthcare system will work or any of these plans that he mentions that he knows will never get done. Do you really want healthcare like Canada or France has? If you know anything about it you wouldn't want it... remember the heat wave that killed more people then the terrorists attack killed on 9/11, probably not... well that was because doctors were on vacation and wouldn't return because they were being paid by the gov't anyway. What about Canada the most similar country to the US in the world, look at there healthcare.... Want an appointment? Too bad there is a 3 month waiting list. Want a transplant, haha, here's some morphine I hope your death is less painful... can we not learn anything from anyone... If you vote Obama you're a joke... Flag Abuse
Posted by: Brandon Carroll at Oct 29 At least McCain has a better understanding of what's going on in the world and what can and can't be done... Now if you try and pull the Palin card, who in my opinion has more experience than Obama, I will pull the Biden card right back at you... First off Biden was banned by the campaign to speak without a script and teleprompter and also made the comment that he believes Obama will suffer a direct attack within the six months, like John F. Kennedy... didn't know that I bet, look it up online it's true... At least Palin thinks McCain will survive the first six months of presidency. Also, Biden was banned by his priest because of his views on abortion... Two more things, if you think you know what Obama believes or you think he states what he believes listen to this, when you vote in the senate there are three ways to vote: yay, nay, or present... 125 of those times Obama voted present, to not show position... And finally, don't be insane and vote for Barack Hussein, vote for McCain!!! Flag Abuse
Posted by: Anonymous at Oct 11 $700 Billion Catch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Fusk-_YinY Flag Abuse
Posted by: Anonymous at Oct 8 If everyone loves Obama and socialism so much why don't they move to europe? Flag Abuse
Posted by: Henry at Oct 7 I am tired of all the push-polls. People call me to take a "survey" which basically consists of "Why don't you hate John McCain?". I do hate McCain but I hate phone solicitors a lot more. And they always call twice using a different name(the second is a followup). Why is Obama's campaign being so disingenuous? If you think voter registers are bad, just wait. They have hung up the clipboards and are manning the phone banks now. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Sam Banks at Oct 6 I love Obama -- check out my facebook Flag Abuse
Posted by: Kyle Minor at Oct 6 A) We have a REPUBLICAN system. Democratically elected leaders which then cast your vote FOR YOU. Please don't confuse the system our country has with a DEMOCRACY, which functions on a purely one man-one vote principle in all legislative matters. B) I'd have a little solace for 'get out the vote' workers, if they weren't so heavily insistent on ensuring that you vote for THEIR candidate. Personally, I despise 'get out the vote' campaigns - if for no other reason than that people who have to be reminded that an election is coming up generally aren't well-informed enough about the variety of issues facing this nation to cast a well-informed vote. Voting isn't the civic duty - understanding, following, and determining one's stance on the issues is the civic duty. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Anonymous at Oct 6 Wow! I am sorry your coffee talk time was interrupted. Did you ever think to Thank the girl that is donating her time to make our democratic system work. Wake up and get involved. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Anonymous at Oct 3 Two articles everyone should and needs to read: http://www.counterpunch.org/martens05052008.html http://www.counterpunch.org/martens05062008.html ...Let's fight for democracy and a people's govt. Open the debates. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Anonymous at Oct 3 Do you think two voices that continually are hard to tell apart can really represent millions of Americans? ...I say it's time to force Obama and McCain off script. Let's open the debates and have a real discussion about our economy. Both Obama and McCain avoided any real discussion about it in the recent debate. (Last night's vice presidential debate was just plain awkward.) Please consider learning more about the debate commission by going to http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/712 and watch video MyvVQYf6XWk on YouTube... Additionally, please consider going to http://www.thirdpartyticket.com/ to make a pledge to support an alternative debate with all 6 presidential candidates... Thanks! Flag Abuse
Posted by: Thomas Wallace at Oct 3 When walking past these people on the drillfield, around McBride, Squires, even downtown, it seems that voter registration volunteers (who more often than not wear Obama '08 pins) look at you as "stupid, inept". First off, these voter drives should be lacking any sort of special interests. For the uneducated voter...they should not be approached by a biased party encouraging them to vote for a cause that they may or may not believe in. Also, they should also not be subjected to flawed information, like your vote will be lost, it won't count, etcetera. Does this not seem like common sense? This bias should be taken out of voter registration. What once was a simple act of civic duty has now turned into an extremely one-sided race to collect "uneducated, uninterested, unaffiliated, un-everything" votes. We need to look at what each candidate can do for this country, and not just at which party (Democrat) approached us offering empty promises and voter registration cards... Only then will we be able to truly see what will work for this country. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Thomas Wallace at Oct 3 So I guess that when you apply for your driver's license, and they ask you the question: Would you like to register to vote...is it not so hard to say yes to this question? I would say a good 95% (I do not know the true number here, I admit) of the students here have driver’s licenses. I, for one, have witnessed, voter reg. volunteers "select" those in which they approach, which I feel is the single most flawed point in the goals in which they are trying to reach. I have seen an Obama affiliated voter registration volunteer casually watch students pass by, and then walk across the street to approach an African American student to press them into registering to vote. Does this not seem like a flawed system? Flag Abuse
Posted by: Anonymous at Oct 2 Okay, I don't have time to read all of the comments, so this may be repeated. First of all, this writer is a CT regular columnist, so I assume it was just an assignment, and this was her opinion, and she wanted to expressed it. Two, does this writer truly think she is special enough for the "girl butting into our conversation" to remember her. I don't think she cared enough to look the writer in the face and memorize her every feature. She might have looked at the new person sitting with her and thought she'd ask her. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Anonymous at Oct 2 You guys love that stick up your a$$ dont you Flag Abuse
Posted by: Move to Canada? at Oct 2 Now let's not get dramatic. How many people vowed to move to Canada after Bush won? Flag Abuse
Posted by: allison at Oct 2 This election seems to matter more than other ones because it comes down to whether or not the country takes a dramatic change of direction for the better (cough, Obama). Sure Obama is the more attractive choice at first glance, but guess what, if you pay close attention and really study the two candidates, he's still the more attractive choice, and the right one. So don't be annoyed by people trying to get young people registered to vote. For some unfathomable reason this election is very close, and a few more registered could make a big difference. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Anonymous at Oct 2 Steve hit the nail on the head. Move to Canada? If McCain wins, I just might. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Anonymous at Oct 2 I think more Obama supporters are concerned with regerstering voters on campus because a lot of young voters would vote for Obama...what's wrong with that? Sure some might vote for McCain but if more young people cared enough to register and vote it could significantly help Obama, so why not make it available for them? Sure I've been approached by plenty of people asking if i was registered. I too politely said I was and moved on, but I didn't get upset about it. This stuff is important. I'm sorry if it disrupted a few minutes of your precious day. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Patrick M. at Oct 2 Steve- "Anonymous" pretty much covered all the bases, but I wanted to add a few things. Since when does Obama want "fairer taxes where the rich pay their proportional share?" How is making the "rich" paying 35%+ of their income while the lower income brackets pay 15% fair or proportional? Proportional would be something along the lines of the Fair Tax Plan- essentially everyone pays the same flat income tax rate- i.e. everyone pays XX% of their income. That would be "fairer" and "proportional." Instead, Obama insists on inciting class warfare- which has pretty much been the democratic party platform for decades. So much for change. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Anonymous at Oct 2 For Steve: by making health care more 'affordable' and 'available' he will also be changing it so that its 'ineffective'. By changing our foreign policy he will only destabilize that region of the world and come off as weak in the eyes of flexing Russia. Water boarding really isn't torture, its all in one's head --- we will get rid of prisons because of the mental damage done on the inmates? He was part of the congress that took away that habeus corpus. Those aren't fairer taxes, the top .1% of this country already pays for 17.9% of the federal income while only making 9% of the total income. Corporations essentially are forced to find the more competitive solutions in order to be on par with foreign companies (you can thank mostly unions and federal taxes/regulations for that). We do have tuition help for commitment, do you never see those Army, Navy, or Marines commercials on TV? Shall i go on? Flag Abuse
Posted by: Anonymous at Oct 2 Hey Steve: move to Canada! Flag Abuse
Posted by: Steve McGlamery at Oct 2 He hopes to change the healthcare system to make it more affordable and available; he hopes to change our foreign policy: out of Iraq, where we didn't belong, and focused instead on getting Bin Laden and Al Quada. No torture, restoring habeus corpus, fairer taxes where the rich pay their proportional share, and the middle class pay less; no tax breaks for corporations who ship jobs overseas; college tuition help in exchange for a commitment to service to the country for several years; reining in special interests and PAC influence...you want me to go on? Flag Abuse
Posted by: Anonymous at Oct 2 Steve, I hope telemarketers call you every night around dinner time for the next month. Maybe then you will see how annoying this is. Can any of you 'activists' even tell me what you hope to change? Can you even tell me what Obama hopes to change? Flag Abuse
Posted by: Steve McGlamery at Oct 2 Since when is "actively endorsing registration drives" in a democracy something to be ashamed of? Your sense that having a conversation uninterrupted is more important than encouraging the youth of our nation to take an active interest in politics sounds a bit selfish, I must say. If you don't like being hassled to register to vote, you could always choose to live in a country where leaders are self-appointed for life, and you could be assured your conversations about how pleasant life under a dictatorship is could be blissfully uninterrupted. Flag Abuse
Posted by: DG at Oct 2 For all those people who are saying that voter registration is huge this year because it's a presidential election, does this mean that the other elections aren't important? I would argue that voting for state delegates (such as in 2007) and local officials has a more direct impact on how you live your day-to-day lives than voting for a figurehead that a political party places in the oval office. These voter registration libs are forcing their agenda onto a group of people that will simply vote for Obama because it is a hip thing to do. If a person was going to make an informed decision, they would've already been registered to vote without someone reminding them it is a presidential election year. Flag Abuse
Posted by: DK at Oct 2 " Things have in the last eight years taken a horrible turn for the worse for everyone but the wealthy. " If this was true then nobody would need all this prodding to go register and vote!!! That's the point the author is making! And Jessi, YES, if somebody wakes up Oct. 7th and realizes they forgot to register on time, yet blames it on someone not reminding them... They are 100% too lazy and probably too stupid to even deserve to vote or participate in decision making for the rest of our country. Now if they were physically handicapped, please do help those folks out, but an able bodied college student has no excuse not to have some personal responsibility and register themselves IF they actually care enough to make a difference. Flag Abuse
Posted by: JH at Oct 2 College students don't vote in the numbers they should, registered or not. So, even if it is annoying to you and other people, it reminds everyone of their civic duty. Why now, and why you? Things have in the last eight years taken a horrible turn for the worse for everyone but the wealthy. Everyone agrees, regardless of political affiliation, that this is a historic election for many reasons, not least of which is a fundamental switch in how the government runs. Where we go will directly affect you, the next generation. Do you want to clean up a mess in 20 years or help avoid one? Flag Abuse
Posted by: Jessi at Oct 2 Let's say it is October 7th; you wake up and realize that voter registration is closed and you are no longer eligible to vote in what could be the most important election of our generation. Regardless of your political affiliation, you would probably be upset that you were the ONE person that was not "bombarded" by voter reg volunteers. The volunteers are doing our community a service by taking the forms TO students as well as bringing them to the registrar. It is insulting to say that individuals who are not yet registered to vote are "uneducated and uncaring"--everyone has some opinion about the state of our nation (economy, foreign policy, social issues, environment), they just need someone to encourage them to get involved. As a fellow political science student, I can understand that you are already informed and registered; but what about our fellow Ag Science or Architecture Hokies? Shouldn't someone be reaching out to EVERY corner of the campus? Even if that means being asked four times? Flag Abuse
Posted by: Patrick M. at Oct 2 I think the crux of the matter is here: "...I ask you -- who is not registered to vote yet? By and large, it is uneducated, uncaring, non-civically inclined citizens." I'm sorry, but if you are too lazy or apathetic to register to vote unless someone hands you a voter registration form, then you are also probably to lazy or apathetic to make an informed decision. All of these voter drives are rather disingenuous when they claim that they just want to "get the vote out." In reality they just want to get the uninformed vote out, hoping that the uninformed vote for the young, charismatic empty suit with the vague promises of hope and change. I think the question is, do we really want uninformed people voting? Obama says yes. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Dude in squire at Oct 2 "But to the original point -- why the sudden drive now? " Well if you haven't heard, there's this Presidential Election thing going on. Juuuuuust maybe might have something to do with it. Think before you vomit on the CT's opinion page. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Anonymous at Oct 2 Just spit on their feet, i think they will get the idea. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Anonymous at Oct 2 Then you would have to wear a McCain shirt and that's just ugly. Flag Abuse
Posted by: DG at Oct 2 One thing I've found is that if you wear a McCain shirt, for some reason they don't bother you. In fact, you might even piss them off the same way they piss you off. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Quit Complaining at Oct 2 I know its a reach, but you're probably being asked because an election year... I know its crazy! Flag Abuse
Posted by: Philip Cathell at Oct 2 Where as some of us think a White House with Barack inside it is why our vote needs to be tallied against such a terrible mistake from happening. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Allan Truesdell at Oct 2 The past four years is what proves how important your vote is! Those of us who realize the importance of a change in direction also realize the importance of bringing in new voters to help us accomplish that change. I for one am glad to see that our college youth care enough to become involved in the process. When I served in student associations apathy was the status quo. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Erika Encinas at Oct 2 I'm pretty sure my main point was not my annoyance, but rather the question of why is my vote being sought now after four years of silence? Flag Abuse
Posted by: Angry Citizen at Oct 2 I went to McDonald's, and they asked me if I wanted fries with that! Of all the nerve! I don't want fries, I just want my darn burger! Why the large campaign for spuds? Flag Abuse
Posted by: Just say Yes at Oct 1 You get so angry you are compelled to write to the CT, just because someone asked you a basic question? People ask me stupid questions all the time. Just answer it and move on. 100% chance you are an angry conservative. Move on, is it annoying? Yeah. Is it worth getting angry about and writing to the CT? Ehh that's probably not the case. Flag Abuse
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