MSU Voters Recap

While plenty of students, like Michigan State University sophomores Erica Ause and Tess Hoopingarner, see the value in voting, the reality is that a lot of students do not participate in smaller, especially local, elections. That said, Matt Grossmann, an assistant professor in political science at MSU, said most people generally opt out of these types of elections, not just college students. One of the reasons college students do opt out is because they don’t necessarily live where they would be able to vote, Grossmann said. Grossmann also said that he found it “interesting that more students don’t vote,” in the Ingham County elections for city council, because with 50,085 students enrolled at MSU as of 2014, they could impact the vote.

MSU Voters Preview

MSU students: do they vote? Do they care? MSU sophomore Erica Ause does. “I feel like it’s a privilege in America that we can vote, so if you don’t you’re like, wasting this privilege you have,” she said. Ause also said some of her peers and friends may not see the value in participating in smaller elections like the midterm election or county elections in comparison to a presidential election. “You vote for the governor but then compared to the president, a governor doesn’t have as much power,” Ause said. Another student, MSU sophomore Tess Hoopingarner, also sees the value in voting. “In like 20-plus years, we’re going to want younger people to vote, and we’re voting on what’s happening within the next four to eight years,” Hoopingarner said.