The vice presidential debate last week marked a milestone on the roadmap to selecting the next president and vice president of the United States. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Ohio Senator JD Vance held a conversation that many considered a stark contrast to Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump’s debate, gaining praise from both Democrats and Republicans for remaining cordial and calm—although cordiality between party leaders isn’t enough to guarantee that human rights will be treated with the same respect after the votes are counted. Thus arises the absolute importance of our election participation, especially in a swing state such as Ohio.

There have been some recent policy changes to voting which have created potential hurdles for voters, especially for voters of color. Often these voters are improperly listed in or left off of databases used by election campaigns because an algorithm estimates their voting propensity to be low. As campaign organizers and the people around these voters don’t reach out to encourage them to participate in elections, they begin to feel hopeless, believing their vote won’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Miriam McKinney Gray, a political researcher, even estimates that nationwide, “almost half of eligible Black and Latino voters […] won’t be seen or contacted by traditional campaigns.” This particularly impacts a city like Cleveland, where 65.8% of the city’s residents identify as a minority group.

Out of the voting age population in Ohio, roughly two million individuals are eligible but unregistered, and a further 700,000 are registered but have refrained from voting over the past three federal elections. Furthermore, the lack of voter turnout in our very own Cuyahoga County was one of the main contributors to the 3.4% drop in voter participation from 2018 to 2022 in Ohio.

When voters are inactive, they may eventually be purged from the current system used to track active voters. This year, the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office released a list of voters who were flagged as inactive in the past four consecutive years. On that list, there are 14,954 people who listed Cuyahoga County addresses, with 7,472 of those being Cleveland addresses, despite Cleveland only being home to 30% of Cuyahoga County Residents. This lack of motivation to vote does not exist far from us—in fact, it’s rampant within our city.

While our college campus may seem inclusive in many aspects of diversity and thought, in reality, it is a bubble in which progressive ideals—or at least their appearance—are encouraged in an effort to promote harmony. We cannot deny that many parts of the country outside of our campus look very different. We cannot deny that hate speech has been on the rise, with politicians imposing their harmful ideals in spite of others’ safety and well-being.

We need to encourage the people around us to vote, and we need to make sure that we’re voting. After all, we are actively reaping the benefits of living in Cleveland, so therefore we have a responsibility to contribute to the community. Refraining from participating in a system because you feel it will not bring about change but not following any other actionable steps to improve your conditions is not helpful. We have to be willing to be inconvenienced by speaking up for what we believe in—if not for ourselves, then for those in our community. Perhaps you’re okay with the way your life is now, but if you don’t vote, there’s a possibility that things could become more difficult.

This problem directly affects Case Western Reserve University students. For example, in last year’s November election, centered around state-wide ballot initiatives, out of 1,488 registered voters in the Cleveland 9-P precinct—which exclusively includes the North Residential Village and Stephanie Tubbs Jones Residence Hall—only 8.6% of registered voters voted.

The voter purge comes amid other voting obstacles that Ohio has recently imposed, such as a change to government IDs accepted at the polls—currently only Ohio BMV-issued IDs, U.S. passports, U.S. passport cards and a few military identification cards are accepted—and adding more restrictions to outside ballot box use. Family members now have to sign an affidavit to “prevent ballot harvesting” when assisting another voter by dropping their ballot in an outside drop box, according to Secretary of State Frank LaRose. It is likely that these restrictions aim to reduce voter turnout, especially from students and those without a fixed address, in the upcoming election.

So how do you as a student fit into this political landscape full of restrictions and hopelessness? While our political system is in desperate need of reform and the candidates may not be ideal, CWRU is still a hub of diverse thoughts and backgrounds. Our student body consists of people from all over the world. We have a responsibility to listen to each other, learn about the problems affecting certain groups of people and commit to the development of the surrounding area. Living in a bubble isn’t going to help the millions of people whose human rights are denied everyday. Nor is it going to stop you from one day being affected by the problems you thought you were too privileged to ever have to be concerned about.

The deadline to request an absentee ballot in Ohio to participate in the 2024 U.S. presidential election is Oct. 29. All vote-by-mail/absentee ballots must be postmarked on or before Nov. 4 and must be received by the Board of Elections on or before Nov. 9 in order to be counted. In addition, early voting at the Board of Elections started this week and runs up until Nov. 3, and on Election day, Nov. 5, polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. We must make sure that we are making an effort to send in our ballots even if it may seem like more of an inconvenience than it needs to be. The time you spend double-checking your ballot is a small price to pay for the future well-being of your community and the country.