Street Interviews: Is the voting process easy?

October 28, 2022

Editor’s note: Online voter registration for the 2022 midterm election in Illinois is closed, but voters can still register or update their registration using grace period registration through election day at select locations, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections.

DeKALB – As Nov. 8 approaches swiftly, 2022’s midterm election day, NIU students reflect on the ease of the voting process. Is America’s current voting system simple enough for its citizens?

Jacob Miller

Do you think the voting process is easy?

“I feel like no, I feel like it’s a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.”

Why?

“It’s just a whole different process because with like mail-in ballots and everything, it’s just, it’s a lot harder.”

Anything important to add?

“They need to quit shutting down mail-in ballots and they need to have more available, instead of like one spot in one state that everyone has to either travel to or to mail-in to that one spot. I feel like it needs to be a wide range of areas.”

Amaka Onebunne

Do you think the voting process is easy?

“I’m going to talk based on my experience voting [back home in Nigeria] and I think it’s the same thing. No, it’s not easy. It is a very tedious process.”

Why?

“Voter suppression comes in, it’s basically at all levels, I think, maybe across countries… now in Nigeria… they will even encourage people, when you vote, stay back, make sure they count the votes. Sometimes violence will come in, you know, politically motivated violence.”

Anything important to add?

“Considering the age that we are in now, considering that more than half of the population has access to internet and smartphones or smart gadgets, it certainly makes sense for people to maybe login into some platform [to vote online]. Put some security measures online, make sure that maybe the database is not gonna attack anything.”

Braxton Mushimber

Do you think the voting process is easy?

“I think it depends on your situation. For some people it’s gonna be harder, for some people it’s gonna be easier.”

Why?

“I think when you’re in a college campus like this, they’ll like kind of educate you and be like ‘voting matters’ and everything like that and they give you resources to do that. It’s probably easier to do. But like, for someone who’s kind of, let’s say a welder, just head down always working, they’re not gonna really notice or see the opportunities to say, ‘Oh, I need to vote like right now,’ before it’s too late.”

Anything important to add?

“One thing is that I’m 17, actually, and I keep getting in classes that are like, you know, ‘You need to vote, you need to vote, you need to vote.’ I can’t actually vote yet. I can’t vote until next year.”

Olivia Tilton

Do you think the voting process is easy?

“Oh, yeah, it’s totally easy.”

Why?

“You just register online and then go to the polls. And I think you can even do it online today too.”

Anything important to add?

“I think that everybody should vote if they’re able, if they’re old enough.”