November 6 Elections (Registering To Vote) by Ashley Johnson

During election time I volunteered with Student Government. My job was to register students to vote in the 2012 November elections. I volunteered to do this for five hours over a two day time period. I found out about this volunteer opportunity from a Black Student Union meeting that I attended. A representative from Student Government came to the meeting and explaining a great opportunity to get involved on campus with registering students to vote. I decided to sign up to volunteer right on the spot. Then I had to attend a Student Government meeting and listen to a representative from the Charleston Courthouse explain how to register the students to vote. 

Volunteering to register students to vote makes sure that everyone takes advantage of their right to vote especially for women. Also it gives everyone a chance to help people that are poor, on financial aid, those who are illegal immigrants, etc. Depending on how a person votes and who they are voting for can determine rather or not students will continue to receive the financial aid that  is needed, or rather the wealthy or middle class will have to pay more in taxes. It also determines the right to marry for gays and lesbians, and rather or not people will receive their pensions in the future. Registering to vote gives everyone a voice. Not only does registering to vote affect the United States as a whole but also local communities and states because their not only voting for the next President, but also for local and state representatives . Going to the Student Government meeting made me realize that even on campus students have a voice. It seemed as though only faculty and staff has a say so in what happens on campus. I was wrong. At the meeting I heard talks about all types of issues that students on campus felt needed to be addressed. The most popular talk seemed to be about what to do about the Chick-Fil-A situation. 

The one thing that I gained from this experience is that everyone has their own opinion of the election. I already knew that people had their own opinion but some of the opinion that I heard were very interesting and some just didn’t make any sense. Getting people to realize that there vote does matter and they should register to vote was one of the main things that I gained from this experience because, as I was trying to educated others they were educating me. The first time I voted I did not understand the point in going through registering to vote when I felt like my vote did not matter but in the end I realized the importance. I wanted to student to realize the importance in voting and at the same time it made me want to learn more about the voting process.

Overall this experience was really great. It is something that I had always wanted to do. I always either wanted to work the polls or register people. I met a lot of interesting people. I learned that not everybody’s opinions I have to agree with and don’t expect others to know just as much information as you know. I hope that I am able to register people again to vote.