I was watching the news and saw yet another student complaining about how she had to go to several different places before she figured out where she could vote. I can understand the frustration of a person who has wasted a lot of time trying to do her civic duty. But I am also frustrated by the ignorance shown by so many people, students included, who wait until Election Day to find out where to go to vote.

Where you live determines where you vote. You cannot just go to any voting precinct and say, “Here I am, let me vote.” I feel bad for freshmen, who are voting in their first election in the area. But I have no sympathy for upperclassmen, because there have been many other elections, the most recent this spring on the school bond issue, in which to vote. Where were the complaints then? Did they even vote then? The fact that these people are just now having problems says that they really haven’t cared up until Nov. 7.

I’ve been voting in the same place for every election. When I changed the address on my license when I moved here to attend MSU, I got a letter in the mail with a card telling me exactly to which elementary school I could go to vote. I have moved twice since beginning at MSU, and each time when I changed my license address and my precinct changed, I was notified. My name was never missing from the voting list.

And the “new” law that says that a student must vote at his or her permanent address has been in place since April. This law makes sense, because why should a person vote on an issue that doesn’t affect his or her home community, where he or she has family and where he or she plans to live? A temporary residence does not count as a home. A person who comes from Virginia and plans to return to Virginia in four years should not make decisions for people who live in Michigan. If you plan on living here, change your license address and you should have no problems. I moved here from Connecticut, and have made East Lansing my permanent home. I care about what happens here, not what happens in Connecticut. The law has been covered extensively in the press for a long time, ad nauseam.

It’s a shame that people only pay attention when a presidential election comes along. It’s sad that people don’t take time to read their voter registration cards to find out where to vote. If there truly is a mistake, they can fill out an affidavit to ensure the problem will be corrected. Complaining about having to spend time sorting out a problem that resulted from their own ignorance is a waste of my time when I have to listen to it on the news. These are the people who are voting for our leaders? Ignorance is no excuse - it’s almost as bad as not voting at all because it says you don’t care. This is a good lesson for us all.

Kathryn Edwards
human biology senior