Voting registration ends October 14

By Sara Eisenhauer
Cardinal Staff

For many Saint Mary’s University students, Nov. 4, 2008, will be the first time they will get to vote for the president of this country. However, before our country sees a new leader, young Americans must register to vote.

Election Day is fast approaching, but there is still time to register to vote. Travis Fick, co-president for College Democrats of SMU, stresses the importance of students getting involved in the voting process.

“I would recommend registering as soon as possible and to register early,” said Fick.
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The College Democrats and College Republicans for SMU have been working to help register SMU students through voter registration tables during lunch hours. The two groups registered over 100 voters in the first two days of the registration drive. Fick said young people should vote because it is a patriotic duty as American citizens.

“Many, many people have died to get a chance to vote,” said Fick. “The least our generation can do is to vote, not just for those people but for our future.”

Voting registration is only open until Oct. 14 for the state of Minnesota, so people intending to vote should register soon. The easiest way to register is to visit mtv.com and click on the red Register to Vote box on the home page. This link brings up the Think MTV blog. The blog, has recent posts with pertinent election issues and a variety of links to websites that have voting information.

The first blog posting contains a blue button that says Register to Vote Now. This link brings up Declare Yourself, a website that allows visitors to register to vote through a simple step-by-step process. The site even allows voters to register absentee, though it recommends absentee requests be sent in at least a month before the Election Day in order to process requests. It may be late for students from other states to register absentee, but it is not too late to register locally. This can be done through the Think MTV blog as well as on Election Day at voting locations.

The site also provides a list of voter registration deadlines, links to Rock the Vote and a link to New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice. The Brennan Center site contains a variety of information about the election as well as frequently asked questions by college students of their concerns about voting and the issues surrounding the current election.

In addition to mtv.com, Facebook and MySpace both have links to election information and registration information on user homepages. There are also links for voting registration on both Barack Obama and John McCain’s websites.