Last week marked the end of the voter registration period. All around campus the grumbles of students griping about how many times someone had asked if they were registered to vote at their current address. Countless students complained about the thirty seconds of their day that were snatched by someone asking if they were registered to perform their civic duty.
People's responses to our questions ranged from registering to vote, politely declining, ignoring our existence, or straight up snapping at us. Which is fine. It's fine.
The fact of the matter is that I didn't stand outside for hours at a time for my own benefit. This election is so vitally important to this country that I, along with so many others, volunteered hours and hours over the last couple months in order to urge students, young people, to get out and vote. Young voters are a massive demographic that, historically, does not turn out to the polls. Whether it's due to being busy, not knowing the voter laws, or simply not feeling their vote matters, our goal was to get as many people registered and ready to vote as we could.
Our goal was not to annoy everyone walking down the Esplanade. Each person working at the tables or approaching students with clipboards was genuinely passionate about making sure as many people as possible were registered to vote and understood exactly where and how to do so.
"You're the fifth person to ask me today."
Good.
It's been found that, on average, it takes a person being approached six separate times and asked before they will admit to not being registered to vote. Six times on average, before a person will register or remember to update their address. The most common responses we got were that a person planned to vote by mail or return to their hometowns to vote, sometimes even when they lived hours away.
Even so, what stung the most were the people who went out of their way to be rude. Those who, when asked, would launch into a rant about how many times they had been asked (as if I had some way to keep track of the hundreds of students we approached every day). Or those who would simply tell me to *bleep* off when I opened my mouth. Some students even went on to discuss how they were not voting and I was wasting my time, as if their choice not to participate in the election process somehow made them superior.
I know that being asked the same questions over and over for weeks on end is redundant and can become frustrating. But it's important to remember that each time you're being asked,a person is waiting for your response. Someone who has their own tests to study for, classes to get to, and papers to write. We dedicated our time to registering votes because we truly believe every vote matters. And that isn't limited to this election. Registering means you are also able to vote in state and local elections. You are able to vote on issues relevant to you in the area where you live. Everyone should be given their voice and that comes in the form of a ballot.
I won't say this experience was without its rewards. Every day the group I was working with registered dozens of new voters and registered people to vote on campus where they live. Professors and parents alike stopped to thank us for pushing registration as hard as we were. Every registration form we turned over to the Board of Elections at the end of the day was a small victory, one more voice to be heard in November. The hours flew by as we roamed campus and manned our tables, ready to welcome in new voters. I would do it all again in a heartbeat.
It was just as repetitive for you to hear as it was for me to ask, but not a single person who asked you if you were registered to vote would have been there if they didn't honestly believe your vote mattered.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 8th. (Unless you're a Trump supporter, don't believe the liberal media. It's November 28th.) Click here to look up your registration status and where you'll be polling. Remember: every vote counts. Here's to this flaming circus gone wrong being nearly over!
