More than 5,000 Temple students registered to vote due to the efforts of campus organizations, as Temple College Democrats president Dylan Morpurgo reports. While The Temple News applauds the efforts of students to take the proper steps toward having their voices heard, we’re disappointed to see that some students’ names were missing from voter rolls on Election Day.
The Temple News is disheartened to hear so many university students were either turned away or made to feel like they were doing something wrong for participating in the democratic system, many of whom were voting for the first time.
Hundreds to thousands of Temple students were forced to vote provisionally at off-campus polling stations on Tuesday, as estimated by PennPIRG officials, a consumer advocacy group that registered more than 3,500 Temple students to vote.
The Temple News heard from students who were registered properly, yet told at off-campus voting places that their names weren’t on the list, as reported by Sean Carlin and Joey Cranney on Page 1.
PennPIRG estimates that at least 550 Temple students were separated into “college lines” and asked to vote on a provisional ballot, a voting method used when a voter’s eligibility is in question. These ballots aren’t added into the equation until at least a week after Election Day.
The encouragement of civic engagement at a young age was derailed for many Temple students, as they question what the value of their vote truly is when it’s counted a week after winners have been announced.
The Temple News hopes the voting confusion of this election will push the city to update its systems and refine its practices to ensure that the no voices in Philadelphia are silenced.
We hope that participating in the democratic process will be a practice instilled in both first-time and veteran voters no matter what boundaries arise.
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