With the midterm election looming, Ball State students will once again not receive a satellite-voting location on campus.
During the 2008 presidential election, Delaware County clerk Steven Craycraft had hoped to join other college communities around the state in providing students, faculty and staff with a satellite-voting venue other than the clerk's office or the assigned voting location.
The proposal was brought to a vote by the election board, which is made up of a Republican and Democrate representative and the county clerk. The three-person board voted two-to-one to kill the plan for the satellite-voting site.
Kaye Whitehead, the Republican chairwoman at the time, voted no, Craycraft said.
Brad Polk, the current chairman of the Delaware County Republican Party and the Republican member on the election board, also opposed satellite voting in favor of vote centers.
"[Vote centers] would save the county money, and it is a more responsible way than satellite," he said. "On a typical year, there are not very many voters that [satellite voting] would service. In a presidential year, it may work, but so would vote centers."
But college Republicans disagree.
Timothy McMahon, vice chairman of the Ball State College Republicans, said he believes it is important for the younger generation to be involved. With Ball State's large population of students and staff, it would be logical to have a satellite voting venue on campus, he said.
"I know many students have busy schedules and don't have time to go to their polling place or don't have transportation to get there. So with thousands of people that live and work on campus, it would seem logical to make voting easier for students and staff," he said. "It is your right to be heard, and there is no better way than doing this than exercising your right to vote."
Craycraft's hopes were shot down again for the midterm election. This time, it was not brought to a vote due to lack of support.
"Our office isn't set up to vote eight or nine thousand people at office," Craycraft said, "and that's how many we ended up voting."
University Democrats President Nolan Born called satellite voting essential and said his organization will continue to work with Craycraft's office to get satellite voting in the future.
"Ball State University is the No. 1 employer in Delaware county. The No. 2 employer is Ball Memorial Hospital," Born said. "The people are here. Why not have put the voting center where the people are? It all comes down to politics, and people's right to vote is the last thing politics should be involved in."
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