Vote OR Vote Told to Quiet Down

You know the Vote OR Vote volunteers whether you think you do or not. Or, at least, you will know them soon enough. Fueled by last year's successes, Vote OR Vote aims to get over 3,000 students registered to vote again. The volunteers do this in their neon shirts and tidy clipboards by walking around campus and asking everyone they see to register.

School policy at LBCC dictates that groups cannot pressure students to conform to a political belief, religious standpoint or similar activities. 'Similar activities' is where things start to get muddy.

 Vote OR Vote's rules state that they will only ask students to register in public spaces. What defines a public space, and whether or not Vote OR Vote can walk up to you and ask to have you register to vote remains up to interpretation.

Recently, school security has told Vote OR Vote to back off, as students have been feeling harassed because the volunteers keep walking up and asking them to register.

Eric Slyter, the Vice President of the Student Leadership Council said that he understands, as "It's an academic environment...I wouldn't like it if people came up to me and asked me to register to vote repeatedly." Slyter continued, "We have done this like this for two years, and I don't know why it suddenly changed two days ago." They can only ask people in Takena Hall, the courtyard, and the Commons currently.

Students around campus have their own view on the matter as well.

"It really doesn't bother me, I tell them I've registered and they're fine with that." said Quinton Bigknife.

"I don't mind, they're just trying to get people to vote, it's such an important year." said Catherine Burroughs.

Some even appreciate the fact the Vote OR Vote walks around and asks students to register through them. "A lot of people don't know where to go, and they hand it to you and even offer to take it back...I think we should definitely encourage people to vote especially now with the people who are running," said Sarah Johnston.

The final decision on whether or not Vote OR Vote will be restricted to certain areas, or even to their desk will be made Monday. Slyter sums it up, saying, "We're trying to find our niche."


At A Glance:

You can register to vote at LBCC here.

Contact the SLC if you'd like to talk about this issue here.