In Ancient Greece, the term “idiot” referred to a person who was uninvolved in public life. It was a sign of ignorance and a lack of education.
But contemporary society has a new term for those who don’t vote or participate in public life – they're called young people.
My experience obtaining an absentee ballot this year was arduous to say the least – I requested a form to be able to request another form so that I could then request my actual ballot.
But there are many students who aren’t even registered to vote.
Voters 18 to 19 years of age only made up 17 percent of the actual voting population in 2008, according to Project Vote, a nonpartisan organization geared toward empowering underrepresented portions of the electorate.
There's no doubt registering to vote is a confusing process, especially for college students who live away from home.
Each state has a different set of requirements and hoops a citizen must jump through. And this undoubtedly turns away people who might have otherwise cast their ballot.
The Washington Post reported last week that, as compared to the 2008 election, 50% fewer voters ages 18 to 30 said they were closely following this election's political news. Just 63 percent of those individuals said they would certainly vote – down from 72 percent four years ago, according to the article.
The University should play a greater role in registering students to vote and encouraging them to cast their ballots on Election Day.
Other colleges and universities have found clever ways to maximize voter turnout on their campuses.
Northwestern University launched an initiative in 2011 called UVote, which integrates the voter registration process into school-wide functions such as course registration and freshman orientation. DePaul University, Shenandoah University, Stanford University and Washington University in St. Louis have also joined in on the initiative.
It's something the University should look into.
While GW is not your average political landscape, it is important that the University ensures that as many of its students are registered as possible. GW already has a relatively elaborate freshman orientation program. During the two to three days students are on campus, the University could use a program like UVote to encourage eligible students to register to vote.
Citizenship is clearly important to the University, or else they would not have included it as a tenet of the 10-year strategic plan draft released earlier this month.
“The ways in which individuals and organizations relate to the communities in which they reside help define democratic society.”
We assume that because of the high number of political science majors and the University’s location in D.C., everyone on campus is a political wonk and frothing at the mouth to cast a ballot Nov. 6. But we shouldn’t.
The Greeks weren’t right about everything. Even philosophers like Plato and Aristotle thought the Earth was the center of the universe.
But at least they knew an idiot when they saw one.
Patrick Rochelle, a senior majoring in English, is The Hatchet’s opinions editor.
pretty shocked GW of all schools wouldn’t try and make this process more accessible on campus
Those of us grown-ups who live in DC are only allowed to vote for President and Vice President.
That’s only two of the five national offices most citizens can vote for (we aren’t allowed to vote for the offices of Senator or Congressperson)…
Kind of like a forced partial lobotomy…? ;-)
Or maybe more like the court eunuchs of old?
Instead of encouraging students to register to vote in DC (where their votes have almost no power outside of “meaningless” local elections), why not pass out National Voter Registration Applications, and encourage students to register in their respective home states, where their votes will count for more.
I might add that many (if not most) graduate students (as well as a sizable minority of junior and senior undergraduates) at GWU live in apartments in Virginia, which is a swing state and where individual votes are quite powerful! Voter registration efforts by the university community should not be limited to undergraduates, and certainly not only to freshmen!
Move to the nation’s capital and take advantage of everything here, all the while bragging to everyone you know about living four blocks from the White House, but register to vote somewhere else because it’s expedient.
Fine. Just don’t call yourself a resident of the District and don’t smugly claim to be a local when you’re not.
…but there were a ton of student orgs registering voters this fall.
Once again Mr. Rochelle, a little bit of research and thought goes a LONG way. I guess you haven’t looked into the #Our50 campaign from Program Board. That may be a good subject for the Hatchet to write about. Just think you could help solve a problem that you are addressing!!!!! How exciting!
https://www.facebook.com/events/436230196423671/
Under the fundamental First Principle of “Just power derives from the Consent of the Governed”, even “grown-ups” in DC have equal rights to be represented as our nation develops the consensus that serves as our “Consent of the Governed”.
Students and expatriates are stilled considered as “people of the several states”, and are allowed to vote in their “home” states, even though they are not technically “resident” in that state at the time of elections. Surely a similar arrangement could be made for DC denizens, who could be allowed to declare affiliation or affinity with a single state, and be allowed to vote there absentee.
I really don’t see why GW should spend its resources on getting gets registered to vote. We are one of the most politically oriented schools in the nation, with very active political groups like the College Dems and the College Republicans. Voter registration should be done via those groups (or any group promoting student activity in politics.) GW should spend its money on things actually related to the school, like dorms, professors, classrooms, ect. Not register people to vote. I also don’t buy the “we’re to dumb to register to vote” excuse. We all go to a very good university, I think we are plenty capable of figuring out to register to vote, second of all, there are TONS of websites that help you get registered.
You mention a bit how hard it is to maneuver the registration process, but end up calling people who didn’t get to vote “idiots.” You must be a really nice guy.