Students question lack of voter registration resources

Today is the last day to register to vote in the March 15 North Carolina presidential primary, but students have noticed few voter registration drives on campus as the deadline approaches.

Graduate student Teague Henry called the deadline ridiculous.

“It seems overly restrictive to me,” he said. “I’m a fan of on-site voter registration. A lot of states do that, so why not here?”

Henry said he thinks the deadline is going to prevent students and especially low-income people from voting.

“Because it ... takes time (to register to vote), and 25 days before the election, you’re not really thinking of the election. You have to be kind of on board with that,” he said.

Henry said it was a shame no one was registering students to vote in the Pit so soon before the deadline.

“The North Carolina voter board or the Board of Elections is fully up for doing voter registration drives,” Henry said.

“They provide the resources. They provide the forms. They provide all of that. And I’m a bit concerned that there’s no student groups trying to get people registered to vote on campus.”

First-year Kate Aberman said she is in the process of registering to vote online in time for the March primary.

“There was somebody a couple weeks back that was getting people to register like near the Pit, and I just didn’t have time, but I never saw him again, so I didn’t do that,” Aberman said.

“A lot of people my age don’t know how to (register) at all, which is why I’m getting my parents’ help.”

First-year Sarah Albrecht said she registered to vote in front of Lenoir Dining Hall earlier this school year. If it weren’t for the voter registration drive, Albrecht says she might have forgotten to register to vote before the deadline.

She said voting is important for young adults.

“With everything that’s going on in America right now, I think it’s really important for young students to participate, especially since I think a lot of older voters tend to kind of gravitate toward the same sort of candidate,” Albrecht said.

“And since it’s the young people’s future, I think it’s more important that we vote than they vote. Obviously their vote matters too.”

Though the primary is during spring break when many students will be off campus, early voting at Chapel of the Cross on Franklin Street begins March 3. Students with proof of residence can register to vote at early voting.

Senior Shaquille Price said he isn’t registered because he doesn’t know who is running and doesn’t get involved with politics.

Joseph Fraser is a sophomore exchange student from London. He said he thinks students would still register to vote if there weren’t voter drives around campus.

“Politics is a big thing. It’s very popular here,” he said.

Even though Fraser can only vote in England, he said he follows American politics too.

“(American politics is) a bit like a game show, I find, sometimes.”

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