Yesterday was our first day on the Kent State campus. We arrived with a 15-passenger van festooned with signage that invited early voting and positioned it right in front of the Student Center. Under cloudy, often rainy skies, hundreds of students passed by.
“How would you like to avoid the long lines on Election Day and vote early today?” I would toss out to each passerby. I must have spoken to 300 students. The most common response was a polite “no thank you” that seemed to come from four sources:
• “I’m on my way to class.”
• “I’m not a U.S. citizen.”
• “I’m from another state.” (My reply: “Why not re-register here at Kent State?”)
• Limited eye contact and an internal warning: “You want me to get into that van with a creepy, old guy.”
Our counterparts three hours southwest of us at Wilberforce University, the oldest private African-American university in the country, got 98 students to the polls today. We got 1.
But it’s just the first inning.
2 Comments on “Vote Today Ohio–Day 2–Tach It Up”
Well, hey. Good for that one student!
Hopefully she’ll spread the word! Is there any communication going on with the Student Union or student groups to help garner interest?
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