On Oct. 11, registration for early voting ends and the formal process of early voting begins. Later in October, before the official Nov. 8 election, absentee voting begins for those who aren’t able to make it to the polls. 

Throughout campus, students and staff shared their opinions on voting, their personal rights and their peers when it comes to their option to vote. One freshman, Carolina Stalvey, believes early voting is a great way to exercise her right to vote. 

“If you want to see change, you need to vote. You have to vote for change. Nothing will happen or change if you don’t make it happen,” Stalvey said. 

Another freshman, Hayden Macklem, thinks that this early election may not be for her. She explained that she wants to do research on the candidates for running before making up her mind. Once her research is done, Macklem is leaning towards voting in this upcoming election. Macklem also comments on the fact that, when individuals don’t vote, they are continuing the trend of little to no representation in our government. 

“It’s really important [to vote] because we need people in the house and senate to really represent who we are as a people. If we don’t have any representation it’s really hard to get what we need as a community and a state,” Macklem said. 

To further educate and comment on early voting, Associate Professor of Political Science, Chad Kinsella, discusses how early voting can be beneficial to younger individuals. He also mentioned how early voting and absentee ballots were used a lot during the pandemic, and because of that, they have been more normalized. Since the pandemic is lessening, Kinsella believes and hopes that people will be able to go to the polls more, rather than vote early. 

“There is still absentee voting that you can do within the state [Indiana], but I have a feeling it’s going to be less than in 2020. I think there will be a lot more people who choose to vote in person during the November election,” Kinsella said. 

No matter what individuals choose to do during this upcoming election, one thing is clear, Ball State students and staff hope individuals exercise their right to vote. 

Contact Jovi Taylor with comments at jovi.taylor@bsu.edu

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