Mayor John Quinn expressed his shock at Monday night’s city council meeting at the recent letters to the Sentinel-Tribune newspaper regarding the integrity of student voters.
“I am surprised and appalled that people are questioning the integrity of student voters,” Quinn said. “It is important for our community to have them be represented in the vote.”
Quinn said he has personally worked with students, especially freshman, to know their rights and responsibilities as a members of the community while they are attending the University.
“There should be equal rights and responsibilities that apply to students just like they do the other residents of the community,” he said. “I am very agitated that their vote is being questioned.”
A complete ballot count was called after ordinances 7905 and 7906 were too close to call Election Night. Soon after, letters were printed in the Sentinel-Tribune about how the University votes should not be counted because a student’s vote is not a valid one.
Ordinances 7905 and 7906 were discrimination ordinances that, if passed, would allow certain rights to those who are gay, lesbian or transgendered, among other groups.
A complete count means the city has to count the votes that were cast during walk-in registrations and absentee ballots. The complete count will be completed by Nov. 23. If the vote is still off by a half of a percentage or less, than there will be a re-count for the ordinances 7905 and 7906.
Crystal Thompson, spokesperson for the opposition to ordinances 7905 and 7906, has been quoted as saying college kids “got brainwashed,” according to resident Wally Pretzer.
“The intent of the opposition with signs of ‘NO’ followed by the smaller letters of ‘discrimination,’ was to brainwash many voters into thinking that they were against discrimination when their very actions showed that they wanted to discriminate against certain people living in Bowling Green,” Pretzer said.
Current University student Jared Hite wrote to the newspaper saying he had researched both sides of the ordinances and he resents being referred to as brainwashed.
“I did not make a snap judgment on the ordinances when I voted,” Hite said. “I did not do very much to counter this ‘brainwashing’ I have heard of. I did not see any ‘no’ volunteers on campus opposed to the ordinances, nor any fliers or anything.”
The University is a campus full of thoughtful students capable of not being “brainwashed,” said resident Dafina Stewart.
“Some citizens have said that students should not have the right to vote on local issues because they are not permanent residents and ‘just kids’ who are not smart enough to make an informed decision,” Stewart said.
After reading a letter in the Sentinel-Tribune, Stewart wrote back to the paper and said she believes young adults have the right to vote on issues that affect their lives when they go home after class.
