from 10/25/99:

Absentee voting is easy to do

Dear Editor,

With the Mississippi general election coming up on Nov. 2, students should be conscious of exercising their right to vote and do just that. For those who are unfamiliar with voting by absentee ballot, there are two ways to accomplish this.

The first option is to call the circuit clerk's office in your home county and request a ballot be mailed to you and tell them that you are a student. Upon receipt of the ballot, the instructions are simple to follow, and all that need be done is for you to fill out the ballot in the presence of a notary. I use the notary at the courthouse on the square here in Oxford and it takes less than five minutes. Drop it in the mail and you are done.

The other option available is to vote in person at the circuit clerks office in your home county on the two remaining Saturdays before the election. These dates are Oct. 23 and Oct. 30. Each office has its own hours, opening around 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. and all usually close at noon. Remember all that have gone before you to make freedom possible and go vote.

This is a critical election year that will set the agenda for the next century. Once the 2000 census is complete, our state will undergo legislative redistricting, and the possibility exists that we may lose a representative to Congress based on population shortcomings once compared to other states. If you give much thought to how elected officials vote and how policy is affected, then you must realize that those in office directly affect how district lines are drawn and re-drawn.

The DM has already editorialized the issue of term limits. They are correct. Legislators can be replaced with the power of the vote. If we replace them every two terms, we have no senior experience to draw from, and the opening session of each term will consist of on-the-job training and accomplishment of nothing, all at our expense.

Max Fenn
junior, political science major