Along with several thousand of you, I’ll be graduating from this university in less than two weeks. I’m proud of the time that I’ve spent here, and I’m also proud of the work that I’ve done over the course of my collegiate career by empowering students to make positive, meaningful changes in our society. So I hope you’ll pardon my outrage over the repeated attempts by lobbyists and members of our very own state legislature to disenfranchise student voters even more so than they already have.

Did you vote in last year’s general election? (Don’t worry; I’m not out to scold you if you didn’t.) If you live on campus and registered to vote in Kent, you may remember receiving a letter from the university that served as your proof of residency when you went to the polls. New language proposed by Ron Amstutz, R-Wooster, and backed by the Ohio Republican Party and House GOP Caucus aims to marginalize college students by making it difficult for universities to provide these letters. Just to be clear, these letters serve as the only acceptable form of identification for tens of thousands of students in Ohio. Obviously, this lends credence to the argument that our current voter ID laws are absurd in their aim to alienate students, the poor and the elderly, but that’s another argument for another day (preferably tomorrow because it’s getting to be pretty ludicrous).

Incidentally, I’m not writing this for my own health; I have other forms of ID and won’t be affected by these new measures. However, the point remains: This latest effort to subvert the basic civil liberties of university students is a disgusting affront to our democracy. You should be infuriated. You should be incensed. You should be doing something. Write your representatives in the Ohio General Assembly. If they support these measures, call their offices and leave messages expressing your displeasure with their morally reprehensible actions. Schedule meetings with them to express your disapproval of Sub. H.B. 59. The proposals are only going to become more draconian and extreme, and the situation is only going to deteriorate if you do nothing to help remedy it. We’re the fastest growing demographic in the state and the nation, and it’s about time that we start acting like it.

Contact Evan Gildenblatt at [email protected].