Lindsey Graham | Co-Editor-in-Chief
The upcoming 2016 presidential election will be the first time many Buena Vista University students can vote in a major election, and several people at BVU are engaged in efforts to make voting easier for students.
Dr. Ashley Farmer-Hanson, Assistant Dean for Student Life and Director of Civic Engagement, is working with student leaders to establish a satellite voting option on the BVU campus and to provide clear information about voting options.
They received word last week that BVU was approved to have satellite voting on October 13 in the Science Center from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Students can register and vote that day on campus with a government photo ID.
“I’m excited because everyone’s getting invested in using their political voice and their vote, and that’s a huge piece of being civically engaged,” Farmer-Hanson said.
Student Senate President Katelyn Brinkerhoff said Iowa’s Secretary of State Paul Pate reached out to all of Iowa’s college and universities to mobilize the state’s college students to vote in the election. Student government representatives, as well as university staff from student affairs and civic engagement, were invited to attend a summer workshop at the capital in Des Moines to foster student excitement about voting.
At this conference, student leaders, including Brinkerhoff, were taught the process of bringing satellite absentee voting stations to their campuses. Students brought this information back to campus and began planning with Farmer-Hanson. They worked with the county auditor to decide on the date and location for voting on campus and began the petition process.
At BVU’s student organization Plunge on September 1, Brinkerhoff tapped senior Student Senator Ashley Lemke to aid with completing the petition.
“I decided I was just going to be the peppiest thing and go around and ask people whether they thought it was a good idea and to sign our petition,” Lemke said. “We ended up getting almost double the signatures that we needed, so that was really exciting.”
Lemke and Farmer-Hanson both said they feel it is important for BVU students to be informed about their voting options. Farmer-Hanson recommends students take this quiz and see which of the three available candidates a student aligns with based on their stances on issues instead of voting by a party.
“Students can really start to think about their personal values, what’s important to them, and how that matches up with candidates,” Farmer-Hanson said. “I’ve heard a lot of students say that they don’t know a lot about the candidates or they plan on voting based on their party, and not because of knowledge of the candidate.”
Some students may be registered to vote back home and are unable to drive the distance to vote in their home counties on voting day. According to Farmer-Hanson, they will now have a couple of options:
• If there are issues back home they want to vote for, students may request an absentee ballot here that will be mailed to them on campus for them to fill out and send back.
• Or, they may vote on campus October 13 at the satellite voting station and fill out a change of address form to vote in Buena Vista County. This will require providing a proof of address, such as a piece of mail with the student’s school address. Proof of addresses can also be received through BVU’s Residence Life & Housing department.
Students who are unsure if or where they are registered to vote may find out by visiting this site, established by Pate’s office.
Information will still be provided to students who would like to vote on the general election day in Storm Lake on November 8.
For those who vote November 8, students residing in Briscoe and McCorkle Halls would vote at St. Marks Church, while students living in White, Pierce, Liberty, Grand, and Constitution would travel to Chautauqua Park to vote.
“This is your chance to really make a difference,” Brinkerhoff said. “No matter what your preferences are, you should just go out, get educated, and vote for who you would like to see.”
