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by BRITTANY PENLAND
News Reporter
The Black Faculty and Staff Association held a discussion in Belk Library & Information Commons concerning voting Thursday.
The forum titled “Vote or Die: Voting Matters,” addressed topics such as the Electoral College, the right to vote and the influence of young voters.
“Since it’s
an election year, we were very interested in speaking to our student
population about voting,” President of BFSA Kelly R. McBride said. “You
really need to educate yourself about the [voting] process, which isn’t
that straight forward.”
The BFSA
organization began over 20 years ago with seven members, McBride said,
and today there are 64 people involved in the organization.
The two
panelists for the discussion included Associate Professor of the
Department in History Karl E. Campbell and Assistant Professor in the
Department of Government and Justice Studies Adam J. Newmark.
“We
wanted to sponsor a forum with a panelist from history to give us a
historical perspective on voting in America, and we wanted a little bit
of information from the political side to talk about the process of
voting, and answer some of the questions about the popular vote,”
McBride said.
Both panelists encouraged students to become involved in the November elections, and to become educated through media sources.
“Look
around the world and see people that are turning out in countries where
they are actually risking their lives to vote, and then look at
yourself in the mirror and ask yourself how can I not bother to
register and vote,” Campbell said.
In the last election, 18 to 29-year-olds reached a 50 percent turnout at the polls, Newmark said.
“I think
if you vote, you have invested interest, and participating in the
political process makes an amazing difference and has an impact,”
McBride said.
Newmark
addressed specific issues in the elections that affect students
directly, such as the amount of tuition students pay and the quality of
education received.
“[Participating
in voting] does matter, it’s also something that I think is a basic
skill that most people should have, you should be able to engage in a
conversation with somebody about the basic understanding of the
structures of government,” Newmark said.
Panelists also covered the right to vote as an American citizen.
“People
have died for this, it’s not your choice, it’s your responsibility,”
Campbell said. “This is something that the people believe in and for us
not to make a commitment to [voting] is just irresponsible.”
Newmark
gave an example of disenfranchisement with the 2000 presidential
election, and said allegedly, a number of Floridians were sent false
letters telling them they were ineligible to vote.
The 2000
election came down to 537 votes in a state which prevented over 800,000
from voting due to erroneously sent letters, Newmark said.
“I
believe this is an election where our global borders, our brothers and
sisters are watching and waiting to see what we do and what choices we
make,” Vice President of BFSA Eric D. Hart said.
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