“If you don’t vote, you don’t count.”
That was the mantra of Vernon Dahmer, a leader of the civil rights movement in Hattiesburg, Miss., in the 1960s, who was instrumental in helping his fellow African-Americans register to vote and pay their poll taxes.
Last fall, AU witnessed a similar display of outreach here on campus, as volunteers for the student-run political campaign, A Voice 4 U, began lobbying students to register to vote here in Washington. The campaign ran two student candidates for seats on the Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3D, and they needed students who lived on-campus to help elect them to office.
ANC 3D is most local level of D.C. government here in Spring Valley and the surrounding neighborhoods.
Although its direct powers are few, the ANC is incredibly influential in its advisory role to the D.C. Council, the Zoning Commission and other local government bodies. The problem is, even though AU students living on-campus comprise about one-eighth of the population in ANC 3D, virtually none have historically been registered to vote here in the District.
The A Voice 4 U campaign represented the most organized effort ever to register students to vote and elect one (or two) of their own to ANC 3D. Then-freshman Tyler Sadonis challenged incumbent Tom Smith for the seat that represented North side halls, while then-freshman Deon Jones ran for the seat that represented the South side halls, which had been vacant for many years. Both candidates ran write-in campaigns for the seats.
Although Sadonis was unable to defeat Smith for the North side seat, Jones successfully met the required number of votes to win the South side seat. He has been serving as an ANC commissioner since January.
But AV4U’s voter registration drive also sparked another conversation on campus: Why would students want to change their voter registrations to D.C.? The 2010 elections were, after all, some of the most significant Congressional midterm elections in recent years — except for here in the District, which doesn’t have any voting representation in Congress.
Why would Republican students want to vote in one of the most Democratic cities in the country? How hard would it be for students to switch their registration back to their hometowns later on?
Well, I was one of the few hundred students who switched my registration to D.C. last year, and I haven’t switched back since. As AU students, we live here for at least two-thirds of the year, so we are affected by the decisions of D.C.’s elected officials as much as, if not more than, those of our elected officials back home.
Whether it’s deciding on the approval of campus plans or setting policies for welfare and education in the city, the decisions made in the D.C. government have a significant impact on us as college students.
But even beyond those reasons, I’ve kept my registration in D.C. because I’ve had the experience of seeing my vote truly make a difference. Last year, my hometown congresswoman was re-elected with 75.6 percent of the vote. But on that same day, Deon Jones was elected to ANC 3D, thanks to 17 write-in votes. And I am proud that one of those votes was mine.
Our right to vote, and where we choose to exercise it, is a personal choice. But last year, AU experienced first-hand the power that our votes can make to change our community. I am proud to be a registered D.C. voter, and I hope that all AU students will consider registering here as well.
Douglas Bell is a junior in the School of Communication. Please send comments and responses to:
edpage@theeaglonline.com
