Urging for voters to register, Michigan Tech ‘drives’ U.P.

HOUGHTON — Local elections are just a few weeks away, and Michigan Tech is urging unregistered student voters, to register and participate, as today is national voter registration day.

In an effort to increase voter registration, Michigan Technological University is hosting a voter registration awareness drive. Over 75 volunteer students along with clerks from the City and County of Houghton were on hand today urging students who are not registered, to do so.

“So there are important local elections coming up this November 7th. Locally here in the City of Houghton, were voting on a library mileage. So that’s one important issue that’s on the ballot for instance, but there are often city council, school boards, all kinds of local elections that happen in the off years,” said  MTU Associate Professor Richelle Winkler.

Winkler also states that Millions of Americans do not vote, simply because they are not registered.

“It’s really important to get registered to vote well in advance. In the state of Michigan, you have to be registered at least 30 days before an election. And that’s something that a lot of our students, or first time voters, younger people don’t really know. And so we’re trying raise awareness about this and get people registered plenty early,” said Winkler.

In a recent study of student voters, it was revealed that only 34 percent of eligible MTU students took to the polls in last year’s presidential election. This number is lower than the national average of 50 percent.