Bryan BeilkeFill in the bubbles and feed it into the scanner. Voting is as easy as filling out an 882-E Scantron, but come election day there may be some obstacles students will not foresee.
“The ballots are really simple,” said San Luis Obispo County Clerk Recorder Julie Rodewald. “They (voting machines) are optical scan so all you do is fill in the bubble. Everyone has taken a test that requires you to fill in the bubble.”
The optical scan voting machines allow the ballots to be read at the precinct and minimize voting discrepancies, Rodewald added. Voters place the ballots in a scanner that reads and deposits them in the ballot box. The system will not accept ballots with too many votes and returns voting results efficiently and accurately.
“We don’t have any touch screens,” Rodewald said. “A lot of people are wary of those not recording the votes correctly; we even have a paper ballot to go back to if there are any disparities.”
On election day, students living on campus should vote at the polling place in the student center, unless they live in Poly Canyon, Rodewald advised. They will receive a vote-by-mail ballot, previously known as absentee ballot, and can return the ballot by mail or drop it off at the student center. If voters fill out a regular ballot on election day, they will not be listed on the roster and will be forced to fill out a provisional ballot.
Students that live off campus will have polling places in their neighborhoods, such as the Zion Lutheran Fellowship Hall on the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Santa Rosa.
“The most important thing for people to do is look at the sample ballot to see where they vote,” she said. “What happens at Cal Poly is a lot of students will be required to vote with a provisional ballot if they go to the wrong precinct.”
A provisional ballot is offered when poll workers can’t determine if someone is eligible to vote; these are often first-time voters in California. The ballot isn’t counted until after the election when the County Clerk-Recorder’s Office verifies the person’s eligibility.
“Voters will be turned away from polling places,” Rodewald said. “But the good thing about provisional ballots is that you preserve your right to vote.”
Unfortunately, many students list their home address on their voter registration and are not actually registered in San Luis Obispo County, she added. To vote they must request a vote-by-mail ballot from the county they are registered at least seven days before the election. The ballot must be sent to the respective county by Nov. 4.
“We are getting a lot of registrations from Cal Poly,” Rodewald acknowledged. “You guys (Cal Poly) are doing a good job of getting people registered.”
As far as college student’s involvement, their interest is apparent judging by the amount of registrations and level of excitement perceived from student’s phone calls and e-mails reaffirming their registration, she added.
“I hope students are inspired by the fact that this will be a historic election and will want to stay involved,” Rodewald said. “We will see a drop off in the turnout after this election but if we can make life-long voters out of the students, I think we will be a lot better off.”
During last week’s Democracy Week, ASI partnered with Student Life and Leadership and University Housing to register 719 voters, ASI President Angela Kramer said.
“I want to get that interest focused on a state and local level also,” she said.
Rodewald drew similarities between this year’s election and when she first turned 18. It was during the height of the Vietnam War and marked the first year 18-year-olds could vote. Her campus was littered with Nixon and McGovern paraphernalia and the excitement was palpable.
“I’m hoping the same thing will happen with our college students,” she said. “What is it that will grab your attention and make you realize that your vote will have an impact on what will happen four or even eight years from now?”
The unfortunate state of the economy and a possibility of a draft will be issues that students will have to grapple with, Rodewald added.
“You can’t stay in school forever,” she reminded students.
Rodewald urged students to prepare early and not wait until the last minute because there is only so much the County Clerk-Recorder’s Office can do. Do not wear any party’s paraphernalia and remember to thank the poll workers when voting, she added.