Students only get one presidential election during four years of college. It is unique and special and having the opportunity to help elect the next president of the United States as a college student is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Iowa was the first in the nation to vote, and on Feb. 9, New Hampshire will be the first primary (Iowa has a caucus system). On April 5, Wisconsin will be voting for who should be the next president, along with State Supreme Court and County Board.
Student turnout in spring elections is always low, but in April that can change. This is said nearly every election cycle, but this time it is true: this will be the most important election in our lifetimes.
This election cycle candidates are talking about students more than they ever have. The explosion of student loan debt and debate over higher education funding has put college students in the crosshairs of this campaign. Nearly every presidential contender in both parties has included student loan debt as one of their highest priorities.
Russ Feingold is running for U.S. Senate and has talked about student loan debt more than any other issue, calling the debt “a denial of the American Dream.”
In the Wisconsin Legislature, the Higher Ed Lower Debt bill, with unprecedented co-sponsorship from every Democrat, is circulating. Even Gov. Scott Walker has hopped on the bandwagon, proposing a plan for student debt. Granted, Walker’s plan would only help 3 percent of loan holders while the Higher Ed Lower Debt bill would help more than 500,000 of the 750,000 loan holders.
Walker proposes plan to make college more affordable, but no financial aid increase for UW System
Between now and the day University of Wisconsin students head to the polls, the best thing to do is pay attention. Pay attention to other primaries coming before ours and pay attention to what candidates say and the platforms they promote. Their platforms will have real consequences in all students’ lives.
Think about the stakes — in this election the stakes are high, beyond those of student loans. Health care, marriage equality, environment, immigration, criminal justice reform, gun violence prevention and voting rights are all at stake, to name a few.
But when all of these issues are riding on the student vote, Republican legislation all over the country — Wisconsin included — has made it more difficult and cumbersome to vote. In Wisconsin, voter ID has disenfranchised thousands of out-of-state students right here at UW, and 300,000 other Wisconsin residents, mostly from black and Latino communities.
We need to turn out this year and show Republicans their voter restriction will not succeed. On one aspect of this issue, College Republicans and College Democrats have actually worked together in pressuring the UW administration to implement more locations and longer hours to obtain a voter ID.
Unfortunately, UW Chancellor Rebecca Blank and the rest of the administration decided against students’ interests, and students can still only obtain a voter ID at the Wiscard office in Union South during regular business hours when most students have class.
Democrats have worked tirelessly for the last eight years to secure substantive policy victories under Obama and now it is all at stake. Whether the Democratic nominee is former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-VT, it is imperative to secure a victory for them in November. Students have many needs; the need for action on the student debt crisis, the need to maintain the progress made by Obama in many policy areas, and, most importantly, the need to turn out to vote.
August McGinnity-Wake ([email protected]) is a freshman majoring in political science and economics.
