Treasury exists to serve the interests of the student body and the needs of SU student groups. Unfortunately, however, its funding choices often fail to reflect the student preferences.

The hype of 2008 is officially dead. The faddish adulation of Obama, which promised to permanently draw millions of disengaged, apathetic young voters into the political process, has collapsed in the death throes of 2010’s low turnout.

Some students who voted on the South Forty in 2008 did not show up as registered voters on Tuesday, even if they had not notified the state of a change of address. They should have shown up as “inactive voters” on the voting rolls on Tuesday.

Polling officials at the South Forty voting location—the only on-campus polling center—confirmed that they turned students away instead of issuing them a provisional ballot if their names did not appear on the registered voting list.

Sitting in my common room a few days ago, a floormate and I were having an intense discussion on the current political scene. The upcoming midterm elections, the Bush tax-cuts and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell were all subjects of discussion and the conversation got fairly intense. It was a liberal versus a conservative in an intellectual battle for the ages.

As Chancellor Wrighton has taken a prominent role in the imminent St. Louis County elections, most Washington University students have heard about the issues on the upcoming ballot. There have even been cardboard cutouts of buses and a staff member in a prom dress encouraging students to vote for Proposition A. Regardless of how you vote, I encourage you to participate in the voting process.

St. Louis County voters approved the smoking ban measure Proposition N by an overwhelming margin in Tuesday’s election, which saw low turnout throughout the county.

It seems that recently, a number of Republicans have written in to complain about various issues. They’re complaining so much, you’d think they were Democrats!

I’ve often wished Washington University had Division I athletics, but not for the athletics themselves.

Like nearly all of the undergraduate students on Washington University’s campus, this will be my first presidential election. It will be the first time I cast a ballot on election day; the first time I do real, committed research on the candidates; and the first time I will truly act as a citizen of the United States.