If you’ve been walking through RTUC lately, people have been asking if you are registered to vote. The people behind the tables have been working hard to get those on Millikin’s campus involved with the upcoming midterm elections.

Hannah Shull, who is in charge of volunteer management for Millikin, has been working with several organizations to make sure that students are ready come November 4.

“There are several student groups that are or will be heavily involved with the voter registration project on campus like Young Democrats, Student Senate, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.,” Shull said.

Getting students registered to vote is very possibly the biggest part of the battle of getting students to vote. In 2008, of the 18-24 year old college students that registered to vote, 87 percent actually voted. However over a quarter of college students reported in 2010 that they did not register to vote because they did not know where to register, how to register or they missed the deadline.

“Historically, the midterms have a low voter turnout, especially by students and citizens our age. If we don’t vote our voices will not be represented in the law making process. It is crucial that we students get out to vote this year because lawmakers are trying to raise the interest rates on our loans, as if the financial strains on students aren’t high enough already. This is just one example of several issues that are affecting citizens our age.” Chet Lord-Remmert, a senior at Millikin and a member of the Young Democrats, said.

Making sure that students vote is important for many reasons. It honors the past sacrifice that has been made in order to secure the right to vote. It also makes sure that politicians are addressing the needs of students. If students aren’t voting, then politicians won’t spend their time campaigning towards them or working to get legislation in their favor.

“I think there are groups of students that are very interested in the elections and want to become more civically engaged in the Decatur community. However, I do think there is a larger group of the student population who are either uninformed or choose to be more engaged in their home county than in Macon County.” Shull said.

It is often disappointing to know how few students make an effort to get to know the policies and agendas of their politicians. Few things will affect a person, even as they end their time as a student, as much as the politics of their country. Being uninformed, and even worse, purposefully uninformed, is not something to be proud of. However Lord-Remmert has had many good interactions with Millikin students.

“There is an increasing amount of political activity on campus and I’ve had some really great conversations with my classmates about some of the issues this year. I am hopeful that our efforts increase the overall voter turnout this November 4,” he said.

Shull similarly has been extremely pleased with the response of students to the registration tables.

“Sign-ups are going pretty well so far, but we hope to register a lot of students on September 30th-October 2nd at our RTUC and Shilling registration tables. We’ll also be going through residence halls in October, so keep a look out for us,” she said.

Everyone who is planning to vote must be registered by October 6. If you are unable to drop by RTUC when registration tables are available, dropping by the Career Center is another easy way to get registered.