With one of the most important presidential elections in the history of this great country just 20 days away, it is important to note the convenience of registering. While organizations such as Progressive Future, ASM and WISPIRG have been extremely helpful in registering voters at new addresses in less than a minute, there still seems to be a large wave of students taking the registration for granted. If you registered for the primary, but have since moved, you need to re-register at your new address.
Many are waiting to register on election day, thinking it will be a quick and easy process. If you are one of these people, regardless of what state you are from, please reconsider. The road to registering on Nov. 4 is not going to be fast nor easy, and you very well may end up waiting for up to four hours.
During the primary elections, many students waited until the day of the election to register. I know this because I was one of them. The polling location seemed as amateur as a prom queen tally, especially with the five-second interviews poll workers gave students to prove their roommates did indeed reside in the city of Madison.
Perhaps this is why I heard so many casual responses (when I got any) while I was volunteering for Progressive Future last week. The only difference with this election, though, is it is a presidential one, and the procrastinators are not going to be greeted with the same sense of simplicity they were in the booths last February.
The 2008 Wisconsin primary turnout was 1,496,068, votes, in comparison to the 2004 presidential election, where 2,994,021 Wisconsinites voted - nearly double the amount of voters. Although it is difficult to predict exactly how large this year's presidential election will turn out, it is always a sure thing to say there will be a large increase in voter turnout from last winter's primary.
Imagining how much more crowded the polls will be, taking into account the large risk that you may run while waiting for an absurd amount of time, combined with the the incalculably high level of importance this election holds, it would be more than wise to register today if you have not already.
Today is the absolute last day to register until the fourth, and volunteers need to bring all of the paperwork to City Hall by 3:00 p.m. If you are not registered and reading this right now, I suggest you drop this paper and head to library mall where you will be greeted by a group of very eager volunteers who will sign you up in literally less than a minute's worth of time.
As I mentioned in an earlier column, Wisconsin is a major swing state. It can and will make all of the difference in this election, especially if other key swing states change their colors this time around. Do not put yourself in a possibly nightmarish situation that could alter your chances of voting and, in turn, the condition of this country. What are you doing? Are you still reading this? Get to Library Mall!
Dan Josephson is a senior majoring in political science and legal studies.
Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
