Letters to the editor

>Voting difficulties

With people around the nation advocating for a higher voting turnout in young adults, you would think that the area around one of the largest Universities in the country would prepare a little better before Election Day. People have been around campus for the past few weeks, but honestly, who leaves themselves time to stop on their way to class? Come Tuesday, I was all set to go to the polls, register using my lease, vote and be on my way. This, however, was not the case.

You see, I live in University Commons, where they cannot give you an official utility bill. Without any bills of my own sent here and no one to vouch for me at the polls, how was I supposed to make my voice heard? This complex houses hundreds of students, and yet they neglected to set something up to cause less confusion on Election Day. This day did not just sneak up on them; they had to have realized that the documents that they give their residents are not sufficient for official use. I realize that there were other ways that students may vote, such as absentee ballots, sending in for a change of address, etc. However, registration on Election Day should not be this difficult.

On top of it all, they made it seem so difficult to be able to finally get registered, yet my roommate and I were able to attain a registration card by having a stranger agree to vouch for us. What does this say about the importance of official documents? Something needs to change to allow for an easier voting process for students, so that we can actually have a decision in how high our tuition will go.

Jay Selvaag

University undergraduate

Just enforcing the laws

I have had the honor of serving as an election judge in Minneapolis for the past several years. It was exciting to see so many people coming out to vote on Tuesday and, like most poll workers, I wanted to make the process as smooth as possible.

I was dismayed, therefore, to read Andrew Cummins' letter published Wednesday describing his disgust with the rules concerning acceptable forms of identification and proof of address for Election Day registration. One of the more difficult aspects of the election judge's job is the task of enforcing the rules regarding Election Day registration. It is made all the more difficult when well-meaning but ill-informed people give out incorrect information, such as that apparently received by Mr. Cummins in the University Commons.

The required documentation for same-day registration is clearly spelled out on the Minnesota secretary of state's Web site and does not include a lease as a valid proof of address. As frustrating as it is for the would-be voter who is turned away on Election Day, it is also maddening for the election judges who are charged with enforcing the laws as they stand, and doubly so when they are put in the position of having to turn someone away because they were previously given incorrect information.

However, many Minnesotans do not realize that only six other states even allow Election Day registration. Whether or not you feel that the list of acceptable forms of identification is logical or as complete as it should be, it is easy to forget that in the vast majority of states, your options would be exactly zero.

Lara Friedman-Shedlov

University employee

Minneapolis election judge

More statistics needed

When I sat down in the library to read my Daily this morning, which I regularly do, I couldn't help but notice how persuasive the article "New University college unites disparate fields" appeared to be. It uses a rhetorical approach to discuss the merging of the College of Design, Housing and Apparel with the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, but the weaknesses of that approach stood out more than the strengths of presenting the material in such a way.

Focusing more on the experiences of students, the argument about the merging of the colleges being beneficial is fairly unsystematic. While the perceptions of students such as Rosalind Tao and Katherine Solomonson were beneficial to the argument that the merging was a positive thing, quoting mostly students that were for the merge may not be entirely accurate.

With quote after quote about how beneficial the merge was to students, there was not any statistical data showing the differing opinions of students.

Since there was not any statistical data, a scientific audience may not be pleased with simply quotes from four students. What about the rest of the students in the college? What about the people that don't like the merge? Are there statistics that show this? How many other schools have these colleges combined? Do that many people like the merge?

The article should have included more statistical data in order to reach a wider range of your readers to show the merge as being truly beneficial.

Bridget Day

University undergraduate