Get Herald RSSSix months ago, 555 people cast their votes at the Salomon Center during the Democratic presidential primary. A little over a week ago, on September 9, 2008, only 17 people made it to Salomon for the Rhode Island Democratic senatorial primary. Brunonians, I am shocked and appalled. We can do much better.
Assuming that one fourth of those who voted have since graduated, about 400 presidential primary voters did not return to the polls. I would have been content with a meager 200 voters. But 17?
Ignorance is no excuse. On the day of the primary, the Herald's editorial page discussed the event and encouraged all Brown students to vote. Maybe you didn't read it. Or, maybe, you just didn't care.
I know that all but one of the races were uncontested. And someone could easily make the case that the senate race was highly uncompetitive. But even an uncompetitive race deserves five minutes of your time.
Can you even name any of the candidates on the ballot? Did you know that our state representative is Edith Ajello, or that the councilman for our ward is Seth Yurdin? Do you know what they stand for? You should - their votes have substantial impact on issues from marriage equality in Rhode Island to the amount of pollution in Providence.
More importantly, can you name the two men who ran for the Democratic nomination for Senate? In case you cannot, they were Jack Reed, Rhode Island's incumbent senator running for his third term, and Christopher Young, a local activist. I am thrilled that Reed won by a huge margin (and that 100 percent of the votes cast in Salomon went to him), but ashamed that so few of us can claim to be a part of his success.
If you support Reed you might say, "There was no reason for me to vote. Young had no chance of victory. He wasn't even raising money and he barely tried to get his message out." If you said those things, you would be right; that's why Young only received 13 percent of the vote.
But what if, like you, many other citizens felt the same way? However unlikely it may seem, it would not have been logically impossible for many of Reed's supporters to have remained at home, allowing Young's small but mobilized base to seize the day. How would you have felt then?
And if you support Young, then you undoubtedly should have voted. Sure, he was not going to win, but this was your chance to register your dissatisfaction with Senator Reed's policies. You might have even affected his future voting record by doing so.
I suspect, however, that you probably don't know which of them you would have supported. You probably don't know anything about what they stand for. That's why you didn't vote.
Well, if you think that drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is the answer to our nation's energy crisis, then you missed your chance to support Young. On the other hand, if you believe that drilling will not solve the problem, and that we still need to invest in alternative energy, you should have cast a vote for Jack Reed.
So why didn't the many members of our various green groups vote for Reed to show their support for his environmentally conscious views?
In the same vein, where were the members of our feminist and pro-choice groups? Christopher Young would like to see Roe v. Wade overturned! Again, I know he only garnered 13 percent of the vote. But shouldn't you at least add your voice to those who want to protect a woman's right to choose? I would certainly be disappointed to have a pro-life senator representing liberal Rhode Island.
When Professor Jennifer Lawless asked the students in POLS 1120: "Campaigns and Elections" to raise their hands if they had voted that day, only one hand went up. Keep in mind that these students had walked by their polling station just minutes before. I hope that the next time we have an uncompetitive primary, all Brunonians registered in Rhode Island will vote, whatever their policy preferences. We should all be heard.
Jeremy Feigenbaum '11 is not registered to vote in Rhode Island, in case you're wondering.
