Election day for the East Lansing City Council has arrived and MSU faculty, students and community members will be heading to the polls. However for some minority students, various challenges occur when trying to cast a vote.
East Lansing City Clerk Marie Wicks said certain barriers come into play when minorities want to vote — one being language.
“If there’s a language barrier, for example, we have to have two election inspectors of different political parties, ideally a Democrat and Republican, who help out with instructions,” she said. “They are not there to tell a person who to vote for, that crosses the line.”
East Lansing recently created services within the City Council to respond to the growing number of international citizens in the area.
Wicks said the interpreters are able to assist with about 25 different languages. However, the city has yet to create any similar service for polling assistance.
“That has not translated to our polling locations yet, but I’m sure if the need (occurred), we would look for ways to adjust it,” she said.
Even though there are officials willing to help, microbiology and criminal justice senior Chelsea Harrison, who also is vice chair of the multicultural Independent Greek Council, said the minority students who speak English as a second language often feel judged because of poll workers’ impatience dealing with their native language.
Harrison also said another issue often comes from minority students feeling disconnected to the local issues and locations they’re temporarily living in.
“Sometimes, it’s hard to get minority students to care as a whole — they say it doesn’t (impact) me, so I’m not going to worry about it,” she said. “In order to get minority students to get out and vote you have to make them feel connected to what’s going on.”
Another issue that might occur when voting is citizens who change their names and gender identity.
In 2011, ASMSU, MSU’s undergraduate student government, advocated for a preferred name policy, giving ?students a chance to go by other names within the university besides what’s listed on legal documents.
The policy eventually was implemented by the university.
Sometimes minorities, including transgender students, change their legal names to conform to a new identity, said Denzel McCampbell, program assistant with the Lesbian, Bisexuality, Gay and Transgender Resource Center.
Wicks said if students were to mix up their legal name when registering, the denial of a vote wouldn’t be about the basis of being transgender.
“The only concern I would have is that the name would have to match the name they’re currently living (with),” Wicks said. “But even if it’s not, if we can determine who he or she says he or she is, then we will not have issues whatsoever.”
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
