A great lack of initiative exists on this campus when it comes to student participation in elections. No one has taken responsibility for encouraging and facilitating voting among students. The campus generally rallies up for the presidential elections, but participation drastically drops for local elections. In the 2011 municipal elections, less than 10 Dickinson students voted in the precinct.

It astonishes me that so few students take an interest in voting on local matters. A grand divide between Dickinson and Carlisle prevails. I often hear students say that Carlisle is not their community, and therefore they should not vote here. Students don’t see to what extent local officials affect them. In some ways, the local elections are more important than the national elections. Although most of us will only spend four years of our lives living in Carlisle, we are not just intruders in this city. We are residents of Carlisle, and we should participate in every election so that our voices can be heard as active community members. I got involved in local politics as a first-year, participating in canvassing for candidates, and as a result, I began voting in Carlisle instead of my district in Western, Pa. because I wanted to give back to my new community. While I do not expect most students to have this same level of commitment to political activity, I did think more students would at least serve their community by voting in elections. Many students get involved in community service because they want to give back to this town, but then deny Carlisle as their town when it comes to voting in elections.

While low voter turnout for local elections is most likely a trend on college campuses, the statistic that less than a half percent of students take part in these elections shocks me. I ask myself, where does the responsibility fall? With so few students voting, I anticipated the college would work to improve these numbers, but the Dickinson community has dropped the ball, on both the sides of the administration and the students. The mission of Dickinson lists the importance of creating engaged citizens, yet we cannot bother to encourage students to vote in local elections. The student-led effort to help students vote has failed, not by lack of effort, but positive results remain deficient. It is time for the college to step in and help the student political organizations finally achieve a change in campus voting trends.

What really concerns me is the lack of consciousness on campus regarding the upcoming election in November. Among other municipal positions, Carlisle is voting on the mayor, but very few students are aware of this. The argument I often hear from students who decide not to vote is that they are not informed on the candidates or what positions are even up for election. While this is a valid argument as I do not condone uninformed voting, I must ask why students are not making themselves more informed. I understand that we live very hectic lives as college students, but must this isolation between our campus and the community that is just a couple blocks away from us endure for much longer? The biggest struggle I have experienced in my position is getting students excited to vote in local elections that will have an impact on their lives. Students continue to make excuses to not vote to cover up a lack of interest in voicing their opinions. We are not actively becoming engaged citizens, and little concern about this exists.

I believe the first step to fixing the problem is to emphasize voter registration on campus. However, there have not been many efforts to do so. This is why I organized a campus-wide National Voter Registration Day through the College Democrats on this past Tuesday. I believe that the college should take a greater responsibility to help students register to vote. I should not have to run these efforts on my own. I must add that the number of volunteers for National Voter Registration Day I received encourages me. Between the College Democrats and Alpha Phi Omega, 18 Dickinson students volunteered to staff the registration tables all day. The volunteers were very helpful in achieving my goal of making registration more public on campus, and I hope it does not stop with this event. In the future, I’d love to see voter registration forms more visible in campus offices, and I hope to see wider efforts to get students registered. In the end, it does not matter to me which party you register for or which candidates you vote for in November, as long as everyone takes the time to make an informed decision and arrives to the polls to be responsible, immersed citizens.