College Democrats of Indiana Statement about Ball State University Early Vote Polling Location Issue

SOUTH BEND, IN - The College Democrats of Indiana executive board strongly urges Delaware County’s Election Board to vote in favor of instituting an early vote polling location on the campus of Ball State University. With nearly 20,000 students attending Ball State University, it is the largest concentration of potential voters in the whole county. If there should be an early vote polling location anywhere in Delaware County, it should be placed on the campus of Ball State. 

The security and staffing concerns that have been unduly raised by the Election Board are simply not good enough arguments to block the proposal. Evansville, West Lafayette, and Bloomington all have successful early vote locations on site at the largest universities in their cities. Mike Uehlein, President of the Ball State College Democrats states, “The numbers show polling locations on college campuses are warranted and do in fact increase voter turnout.”  

For the Election Board to deny an early vote polling location on the campus would be to contradict their duty to ensure that all voters in Delaware County are given equal protection and access to their right to vote. 

Caitlin Worm, President – College Democrats of Indiana 

“Students are being disenfranchised all across the country this year and we want to do our best to make sure that it doesn’t happen here at home in Indiana. Current state voting laws are repressive to the college-age level voting constituency in the state and need to be changed. By the power of our 26th amendment in the United States Constitution, the students of Ball State University should be given the highest accessibility to polling locations as possible. Anything but placing a polling location at Ball State University, the largest employer and most densely populated region in all of Delaware County, would be an abomination to the students and all of the civil rights leaders who have come before them.”  

Source: College Democrats of Indiana Press Release