Students should take advantage of voting ahead of the Nov. 4 midterm elections.

The top two governor contenders — Democrat Pat Quinn and Republication Bruce Rauner — have opposing plans for the state’s budget, and that will affect how NIU will receive state funding, making this an important time for students to use their ballots as a way of raising their voice.

Quinn has pushed to make permanent a temporary tax hike that helps provide for state-funded universities like NIU, while Rauner wants to remove Quinn’s temporary tax hike while looking for alternative sources to fund education. Those disagreements in policy show just some of the ways students and the university are affected by politics, underscoring the need to vote.

Students should research each candidate’s plan and voice their opinions on which person is the better fit for Illinois and NIU. Students can register to vote during a grace period before the elections by visiting an in-person office, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections website. Until Saturday, an on-campus in-person registration can be found in the Holmes Student Center. The office will open noon to 7 p.m. today, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday in the Blackhawk Annex.

To register during the grace period, students are required to bring two forms of identification, such as your student ID and a piece of mail with a current DeKalb County address.

Students who have registered in their home counties can re-register in DeKalb or can acquire an application for absentee ballot by visiting bit.ly/1tdPXXR before Thursday.