Administration should care more about voting issues

There is no question that there were many issues with voting for students at Wash. U. this year. On Nov. 8, Student Life reported that not only were both the on- and off-campus polling locations for undergraduate students without paper ballots for an extended period of time, there were students who were not recorded as registered voters even though they had registered within the appropriate time frame. These are issues that have a tendency to disproportionately affect young people and minorities, groups that in the last two elections have overwhelmingly voted for President Barack Obama. I am concerned with the lack of overt concern over these issues on the part of the county Board of Elections and University administration. As young people, the outcome of this election had a huge effect on our futures. Soon, we will be graduating from Wash. U. and going out into the real world. We will need jobs, health insurance and potentially government assistance. The results of this election would determine our access to universal health care coverage, women’s ability to choose reproductive health services, an economy that includes jobs for us, access to Medicare and social security in our future, tax levels and whether or not we would have access to entitlement programs if we need them in the future. All young people that wanted to vote should have been able to do so, but given the issues with voting at Wash. U., many students were limited in their ability. It is our constitutional right to vote and to participate in creating the direction our country will take, and it is the responsibility of the St. Louis County Board of Elections and the administration of Wash. U. to ensure that we have the ability to exercise that right.