Absentee voting lacking
The Nov. 2 mid-term elections were quite historic, with Republicans regaining a wave of momentum that they had dramatically lost only two years ago. High national voting turnout was mirrored by the turnout of Rice student voting (see story, page 1); approximately 400 Rice students participated in voting on-campus, a distinct increase from the 2008 elections - a particularly impressive feat, since this most recent election did not include the vote for the presidency.Thus it seems that Rice's various attempts to get out the vote and promote student participation in the democratic process were successful. However, 400 students still represent a relatively low proportion of the entire student body eligible to vote. The fact remains that Rice is predominantly populated by out-of-state students, many of whom refuse to alter their hometown allegiances by registering to vote in Harris County.
Thus, for future elections, it should be a priority to target expansion of absentee voting. This involves pushing the get out the vote effort much sooner in order to accommodate the earlier deadline for absentee voting. In addition, it would be a great addition to the efforts to have transparent guidelines for absentee voting requirements and to provide resources to facilitate ?absentee voting.
The Thresher acknowledges the dire national necessity to increase democratic participation among the 18- to 29-year-old age group. As Rice does its part to increase student turnout, it is necessary to value the efforts to garner votes fro Texans as well as from those students who are out-of-state citizens.
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