Postal mishap may affect students' votes
Some of the students who thought they had signed up to vote through a Black Student Union registration drive found out last week their registration or absentee ballot applications were lost in the mail.
That means their vote might not count in Tuesday’s election.
Through a campus-wide e-mail last week, the BSU told those who participated in their drive on Sept. 30 or Oct. 1 "that some unforeseen circumstances may have affected your ability to vote.”
BSU president Jasmin Hashi, a senior, said the problem occurred when only one of two envelopes that the group sent off to the Indiana Elections Division arrived in the mail. Hashi said the group was alerted when a couple of students who participated in the drive reported they had problems casting votes.
The group had two meetings to advise those affected to check with their home counties about their voter status.
Hashi said because the problem was caught before the deadline for absentee vote applications, those who were already registered could reapply and receive their absentee ballots.
For those who attempted to register with the BSU and their applications were in the lost envelope, whether their vote will count becomes a waiting game, Hashi said.
“They should go ahead to their county and vote provisionally,” she said.
A provisional ballot is issued to those voters whose eligibility is in question. Hashi said if the envelope is found, the provisional ballots will then be counted.
