The Student Association and the Stennis-Montgomery Association will sponsor a voter registration drive on the Drill Field from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday to prepare students for upcoming national and local elections.
Whitney Holliday, SMA president and SA secretary, said the drive will be used in conjunction with MTV’s Rock the Vote campaign.
“We’ll be passing out applications on the Drill Field,” she said. “Rock the Vote will allow people to print off registration forms and send them to their secretary of state [Delbert Hosemann].”
Holliday said students intending to register on the Drill Field will need to bring a valid copy of a government-issued photograph identification.
“We’re going to be having two big days of voter registration Tuesday and Sept. 23,” she said.
Holliday said Sept. 23 will not be the last day registration help will be offered to students.
“On Sept. 29 through Oct. 3 we’ll have a voter registration table out on the Drill Field, just a single one, to do the last push for people to register,” she said. “Oct 3. is the last day to send in registration forms.”
Holliday said the MSU College Reuplicans and College Democrats will also be involved int he drive.
“They’re going to be out there giving general information about their organizations. Campaigns from out of state will also be passing out material.”
MSU College Democrats President Chris Walton said it is important for people to vote because it lets them voice their opinions.
“If you want your opinion heard, you have to make it heard,” he said. “You have to vote.”
Walton said this year’s presidential election is one of the most important elections in American history because of the diversity between the candidates.
“We have a Vietnam war veteran and a woman versus a working class kid from Scranton, Penn., and an African-American,” he said. “This is the one [election] where everybody needs to get their opinion heard.”
MSU College Republicans Chairman Nathaniel Dobbs said students have not had a strong record of voter turnout in the past.
“[Students] think there is too much partisanship, too much bickering,” he said. “We want people to get beyond that and show them that no matter what party you vote for, we want you to get out and vote.”
Dobbs said students should vote because they make up a large voting bloc capable of making a difference in the election.
“Here at Mississippi State, we have almost 19,000 students,” Dobbs said. “We can swing the state of Mississippi one way or the other.”
Oktibbeha County Circuit Clerk Angie McGinnis said anyone who wants to register to vote in Oktibbeha County must have a physical address in the county.
“[People] can register to vote by coming into the Circuit Clerk’s Office between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday,” McGinnis said, “[or by obtaining] a mail-in voter registration form by visiting www.oktibbehacountyms.org and following the links to the secretary of state’s Web site.”
McGinnis said voter registration forms must be received by employees of the Circuit Clerk in person by Oct. 3. Mail in forms must be postmarked no later than Oct. 4.
“If a student uses the mail-in form, they need to know that they have to send a copy of their driver’s license with it,” she said, “or on election day, their form will be marked ‘show ID’ for first time voters.”
McGinnis said students can request absentee ballots by contacting their home-county Circuit Clerk.
“A ballot [can] be mailed to them at their residence here in Starkville,” she said. “The ballots should be available 45 days prior to the election.”
Undeclared freshman Catherine Stubbs said it is important to vote because each vote counts.
“If I say, ‘I’m not going to vote [because] my vote’s not going to matter,’ well 100 other people could also think that,” she said.
“All of those votes could have counted and made a difference.”
Students can visit http://rockthevote.com to register to vote.