April 17, 2011

50 Lower College Rd
Unit 0012
Kingston, RI 02881

David Coates, President

URI Memorial Union
Room 201
50 Lower College Rd
Kingston, RI 02881

Dear President Coates,

My name is Kelly Harris and I am writing this letter to you for credit as a part of my writing class
on deliberative democracy. However, as a political science major and citizen of the United
States, this issue is of serious concern to me, regardless of the initial motivation behind writing
this letter.

As you well know, student voting statistics are dismal, at best. In a poll conducted by CBS News,
U-WIRE and the Chronicle of Higher Education, a mere 1/3 of students in “battleground states”
(CO, NC, OH, and PA) were politically active. Even in states where their votes could make a
significant impact upon the election results, students chose not to vote. However, according to
Elyse Ashburn, a senior editor at the Chronicle of Higher Education, among the same population
of students polled in the battleground states, 94% of those students were registered to vote.
Clearly, there is a serious discrepancy between registration rates and actual voter turnout. As
you are President of our University’s prestigious student legislation, I do not need to lecture
you on the importance of voting as you are already well-informed. However, I believe that with
your backing and assistance, together we can fight to end this political lethargy by establishing
a polling place at the University of Rhode Island.

If URI students who reside in Rhode Island were given the option to vote on campus, it is very
likely that voting rates would significantly increase. This can be supported through the theory
known as the calculus of voting, which predicts voting behavior. The formula for the calculus of
voting, as stated by Dr. Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz, is as follows: y=a+ x 1−x 2−x 3−x 4. In this
equation, “y” represents the likelihood of voting, “a” represents the initial likelihood of voting
(constant), and x 1, x 2, x 3, and x 4 represent psychological benefits, time costs, monetary costs,
and information costs, respectively. Establishing a polling place would increase the
psychological benefits of voting as it would make students feel good about themselves because
they participated in the democratic process and contributed to society. I’m sure you have
experienced this sense of satisfaction while running the Student Senate elections. Your actions
bring about direct change and the same principle could apply if students were able to vote on
campus. Also, by giving RI residents the ability to vote at their school, it will give them a sense
of belonging and community, thus benefiting their psyche. Creating a polling place at URI would
also greatly decrease the time and monetary costs of voting for students. As a student, and a
highly involved one at that, you understand how time constraints force you to make choices in
regards to your daily activities. As such, you can see how fellow students would not want to
make the time during their day to travel to their home polling district and back. However,
students would only have to give a few minutes of their time to vote on-campus. Also, traveling
to their home polling district requires students to pay transportation costs. With gas prices
steadily increasing to near obscene prices, this deters many of us students from voting.
However, voting on campus would be free of cost. Finally, establishing a polling place at URI
would decrease the information cost of voting as free newspapers are provided throughout the
campus to skim prior to voting instead of students having to read before traveling home to vote
and retaining the information for a lengthy period of time. When all factors of the equation are
considered and combined, the likelihood of RI resident-student voting would greatly increase if
together we were able to establish polling at URI.

Beyond the formality of the calculus of voting, people are going to be more likely to vote if it is
more convenient so them. URI already has multiple venues that could easily accommodate the
voting process. The easiest place would be the Memorial Union Ballroom because it is centrally
located on campus and can be accessed by people of all needs. Whether it is to check your
mailbox, get lunch at Ram’s Den, or attend a meeting, it’s very likely that students are going to
go to the Union during their normal daily routine. Thus, the act of voting is integrated into our
daily activities instead of being forced to make a special trip and exude the effort to drive home
for a process that only takes 5-10 minutes.

With so many college students in the United States, we are often treated like a number or a
statistic. As a result, many adopt the thought process that their vote doesn’t even matter.
However, both you and I know that this is not true. There are 16,000 total students enrolled at
URI, 9,600 of which are RI residents and therefore eligible to vote here. Collectively, those
9,600 votes can make a significant impact upon not only the outcome of the election, but also
the welfare of the University. In the November 2010 Elections, there were four referendum
questions, one of which being “prop 2” which proposed funding the construction of a new
chemistry building at URI. As you know, “prop 2” was passed, but the majority of students who
the proposition actually affected did not participate in the voting process. By establishing a
polling place on campus, it will make our fellow students feel as if their vote is valued and
therefore lead them to vote for both the welfare of our country and university.

I am sure that at this point you are wondering how it is possible to pay for this venture. Just like
anything else in this world, creating and maintaining a polling place does indeed require money.
You need to rent the space in which the voting takes place, pay poll workers, and obtain voting
machines. However, while these financial issues might present an issue in other districts, the
cost would actually be quite low in establishing a polling place at URI. With your assistance, we
can appeal to the Union Board to have them waive the $550 fee for the use of the Ballroom. In
regards to poll workers, a minimum of three workers must be present and paid at the polls: a
warden, clerk, and supervisor. In 2010, poll workers in South Kingston made either $200 as a
warden or clerk or $175 as a supervisor, and also must be provided a meal (Rhode Island Board
of Elections 2010). Their meal cost would consist of a few dollars, if that, as the University could
utilize either of its dining halls to feed them. These pay rates are the highest in all of Rhode
Island, thus there would not be any haggling over pay rates. However, the remaining necessary
poll workers such as aides to the elderly or disabled are traditionally volunteers. As you know,
students of URI tend to step up to the plate when they are needed. I am certain that our fellow
students would be willing to volunteer their time to be a part of the democratic process,
especially those who are predisposed to be interested in the process such a political science
majors. Finally, the state of RI is gradually phasing out the optical scan voting machines and
attempting to convert to the touch-screen direct recording electronic (DRE). Whenever a DRE is
put in place, it is replacing an optical scan machine. These replaced machines could then be
recycled to a new district in need of machines, in this case, our potential district at URI. This
would not cause the state or our university to incur any kind of significant additional cost as
they already have the resource on hand, regardless of whether or not URI establishes a polling
place. As someone who knows the value of the electoral process, you surely can see how the
over 9,600 eligible student voters are well worth the $1,125 in the worst case financial scenario.

At this point, I’m sure you are wondering why I am soliciting your organization’s help
and backing. Quite frankly, I do not think anyone would consider my proposal without your
backing. You and the rest of the Student Senate are the official legislature of the student
population. If someone has an issue on campus, it must go through you in order to have any
legitimacy. You hold significant clout in the URI community and your backing of this proposal
would give it the backbone it needs to push through to the end. If you and the Senate are
willing, together we could mobilize the student population, an act of which you are an expert.
Once the student body is mobilized to express their desire to take back their vote, we can
approach the South Kingston Board of Canvassers. Without your help to inspire students to
raise their voice and take part in their civic duty, the Board of Canvassers will not listen to us.
9,600 potential Rhode Island voters mean nothing if they do not intend to act upon said
potential. You and the Senate have an expansive history of accomplishing this very act by
getting students to vote in your elections every year. If convinced, the Board of Canvassers can
take the proper steps on our behalf in the statehouse to establish a new polling place at URI
during Rhode Island’s next redistricting.

So in the end, will college students hear their call to civic duty through voting? It is impossible
to predict the behavior of everyone, but for the vast majority one thing is certain: establishing a
polling place for Rhode Island residents who attend URI will greatly increase voter turnout and
the overall likelihood of students to vote. The final outcome of the calculus of voting, an
increased convenience level, a newfound sense of political empowerment, direct benefit to the
university, and low overall financial burden to the state of Rhode Island all lead to this potential
increase. It is high time to take action and end this political lethargy. However, this political
lethargy cannot end without your help. I beseech you to support my proposal and plan of action
because establishing a polling places at URI would not only benefit the individual, but also the
state and nation as a whole.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Kelly Harris
Class of 2013