As the Nov. 6 election day approaches, I wanted to take this opportunity to remind everyone to register to vote. The deadline to register is Oct. 9. You can register at any Secretary of State’s office and at the Graduate Employees Union office. If you do not know if you are registered to vote, are unsure where you are registered to vote, need to know where to vote or would like to see a sample ballot, go to https://webapps.sos.state.mi.us/mivote/.

More specifically, I also would like to comment on two decisions voters must make this election cycle. First, Proposal 2, perhaps more commonly known as the Protect Our Jobs state constitutional amendment proposal, is of critical importance to our membership. In the past two years, collective bargaining rights, particularly for public employees such as our membership, have been drastically restricted in a number of states. Unfortunately, Michigan has been part of this trend. Passage of Proposal 2 would enshrine in our state’s constitution the right for public and private employees to collectively bargain their wages and benefits.

While it might not be something you think about often in your life as a graduate student, having collective bargaining rights greatly enhances your quality of life during your time at MSU. Before the Graduate’s Employees Union, or GEU, was formed, real wages had been stagnant for over a decade, health insurance was a supplemental plan for students still on their parents’ plans and the scope of work and amount of time involved in a teaching assistantship was largely unregulated. During GEU’s 10 years, we have worked together to secure annual pay increases, reasonable health insurance and protections against overwork and harassment. Passage of Proposal 2 would ensure that we don’t lose many of the gains we have made and that we can continue to work together to help each other and those who will come after us as graduate students at MSU. If you’re voting on a straight partisan ticket, be sure to continue on to the rest of the ballot to vote for the proposals separately.

Finally, I would like to endorse Barack Obama for re-election as president of the United States. It is no secret that Mr. Obama’s policies are much more in line with the concerns and aspirations of unions such as ours than his opponent’s policies are. Also, our membership has benefited greatly from the Affordable Care Act. Graduate students under the age of 26 may stay on their parents’ insurance plans if they so choose. On our assistantship insurance plan, we now have an unlimited lifetime maximum, preventative services and contraceptives covered at 100 percent with no copays, a tenfold increase in our prescription drug coverage and several other new benefits because of the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Romney and congressional Republicans have made it clear that they plan to repeal this act right away should they take power. For the physical and financial well-being of ourselves and the graduate students who will follow us at MSU, we must work to ensure such a repeal does not occur.

In summary, please do not forget to register to vote. Then, when election day comes, I urge you to vote “yes” on Proposal 2 and re-elect President Obama. Please feel free to contact me or the GEU office for more information on the registration process or ballot issues.

Dan Clark, GEU president