Post Classifieds
Student orgs march voters to the polls
By Jennifer Waters
On November 7, 2012
In honor of the 2012 presidential election, students marched to the Asarese Matters Community
Center, the designated polling location for students registered on campus, to cast their vote on
Wednesday.
The New York Public Interest Research Group organized the march to help bring students out
to vote in the important election, said NYPIRG Representative Patty Ceravole.
"There are quite a few races this year that we'll be voting in, which is really why this year is so
important," she said.
Ceravole explained that New York could end up with a whole new makeup of representatives in
this area, which would change the way things are run locally, and on a statewide level with the
senators and assemblymen.
"The march is to encourage more people who are college-age to get out and vote. Just over 48
percent of people age 18-24 are registered to vote, and only 80 percent of those people actually
go to the polls on Election Day," Ceravole said.
She said that by encouraging the campus' demographic to go out and vote, students will be
choosing their representatives for issues they care about, like higher education affordability,
consumer advocacy and the environment.
"We hear on campus that students think their vote doesn't count but that's definitely been
something that I feel has spread through people our age," Ceravole said. "What the next four
years of our lives looks like is completely dictated by this election, so there's a really easy way
to rebut that argument."
NYPIRG members met students in front of Cleveland Hall to start the march at each of the
designated times, where they were ready to answer questions about how to fill out ballots or
how to submit a vote with new methods.
"A big part of why we like to set up times to go down to the polls is we like to make sure that
each polling place is being run according to the Board of Elections guidelines," Ceravole said.
She said this way they know students aren't being treated unfairly at the polls and are given the
opportunity to cast their vote without being pushed in one direction or another by making sure
the people working at the polling location are being bipartisan.
She said this isn't something that is typically seen, but NYPIRG is making sure there are no
issues at the polling place.
"We like to be mindful of that," Ceravole said.
In different cases, students have been turned away from the polls for reasons such as not
having an ID with them. Ceravole said that New York State doesn't require an ID to vote and
students should never be turned away from their opportunity to vote.
Campus resident Takisha Morancy, who marched to Asarese Matters to cast her vote, said she
felt that for college campuses, Obama was the winning vote.
"Paying for college is hard already," she said. "If Romney becomes president, by my senior year
I'll be taking out so many loans."
There were six different time slots for students to join in the march, each represented by a
different student organization.
NYPIRG, Delta Phi Zeta, Delta Beta Chi, Alpha Epsilon Phi, Pride Alliance and The Record
represented different march times throughout the day.
Kristen Catalano, assistant director of student activities for fraternity and sorority life, also
worked with NYPIRG to put together the march, involving the three Greek organizations
involved.
NYPIRG also worked with United Students Government, United University Professions,
Students For Education Reform and the political science department.
"We try to reach out to as many organizations as possible on the voter mobilization campaign so
we can hit more people in the student body," Ceravole said.
Next semester, she said, they plan to start the process to make Buffalo State a polling location
so voting will be even easier for students. This has not been pursued in the past due to parking
restrictions.
Throughout the year, NYPIRG works to get as many students as possible registered. They have
registered just over 1,600 students this year alone.
"Our big push is of course in the fall around election time," Ceravole said. "Although many
upperclassmen have registered with us previously, many students don't realize that every time
they move they need to re-register."
For students from New York City, the absentee ballot application was extended due to
Hurricane Sandy.
USG member and political science major Ohanes Kalayjian came out to march with NYPIRG for
the 12:15 p.m. march.
"I'm actually registered back home but because of the disaster, New York State is allowing
people to vote anywhere," Kalayjian said.
New York State also opened affidavit ballots to those from the area affected by Sandy along
with extending the deadline for absentee ballots.
"It's great that they're allowing people to submit affidavit ballots but it might take a few more
days before we get the results, especially with the hurricane sending some votes into Limbo,"
Ceravole said.
She said tabling was done to help inform students on the other candidates on the ballot before
they went to cast their votes, so that students knew the different platforms as a way to ease the
voting responsibility and encourage more voters to get involved.
"Your vote absolutely does count," Ceravole said. "The only way it doesn't count is if you don't
let your voice be heard."
Jennifer Waters can be reached by email at waters.record@live.com.
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