Don’t vote and no one will listen. Vote and your voice will be heard. These were the slogans on a button worn by Nicole Messmore, an Undergraduate Student Government Senator and co-organizer of yesterday’s University Experience/What do you care about? Week brown bag lunch.

Messmore, USG Senator Maria Khoury and Bowling Green Experience representative Janna Carpenter organized the event. Representatives of USG, the College Democrats, the College Republicans and the Bowling Green Experience discussed ideas and the best ways to get students involved in politics.

“It was really neat to have the brainstorming of a lot of different ideas, Messmore said. “Even though the turnout was small, we had good conversation.”

Al Baldwin, the Democratic Chair of the Board of Elections, also attended the event.

He told the students that only about 100 people on campus voted in the last election in this district.

“Of the nearly 15,000 students on campus, that statistic is really surprising and really sad,” Carpenter said.

Participants also learned about provisional voting and its effect on political activity.

For example, if a student on campus who is registered in their home district forgot to request an absentee ballot, he or she can still vote because provisional voting allows a student to change voting districts on the day of the election.

“You won’t be voting in your home district,” Messmore said. “But at least you will still be voting.”

Messmore said that she thinks students are not aware of these opportunities.

She said events such as the brown bag lunch increases a student’s understanding of the election process.

“When we vote, the legislators will see the numbers and they respond to numbers,” she said. “If they see us more, they will be more likely to listen. Voting or lack of voting affects all of us.”