Student Legal Services aims to increase voting

With the voter registration deadline approaching this Friday, Student Legal Services is working hard, trying to get students more involved in the local government. Through online services and easy registration, the staff hope to make the student voice as loud in the November elections as it is strong in the community.\nJohn Irvine, director of Student Legal Services, said he feels it is important that students vote, even if they aren't from Bloomington.\n"If they only live here for four years, they still live here twice as long as most people on their first job assignment," he said. "Their time spent here is important, and directly affected by the mayor and specifically the city councilman that the people elect."\nTo bring some of the candidates closer to the students, the Student Legal Services recently sent out a questionnaire to all of the general election candidates, asking them many questions that concern students. The questions covered anything from their views on landlord disagreements to noise violation problems. Once the group receives the candidates' responses it will post them on its Web site on a first-come, first-serve basis, along with a bulletin board for students to respond to their answers.\n"We are not endorsing the candidates," Irvine said. "We are simply putting their responses in front of the voters."\nSophomore Nick Lipnisky said that he thinks the new element of the Web site could work to get students more involved. Living at Varsity Villas, he said that he has already experienced a few problems with his landlord that can be frustrating.\n"I've gotten a lot of things broken," he said. "It could be our fault, but they haven't come by to fix anything."\nEven though Lipnisky doesn't take his problems very seriously, he said that this could be a good median for students dealing with trying to resolve more critical landlord problems.\n"I think it's good to know what the candidates can do for us," he said. "A lot of people might actually use it."\nRepublican candidate for Bloomington Common Council Rodney Young, District 4, said that he recently received the questionnaire, and plans on responding soon. Even though he doesn't represent a large portion of the students in his district, he knows how vital the student population is to Bloomington.\n"The students are an extremely important part of the community," he said. "They have been and always will be."\nAs far as looking out for student concerns, Young said he is fully aware of both landlord and parking issues that need to be addressed.\n"We need to be careful with our parking fines and pay attention to student problems with landlords," he said. "Because students aren't involved with the local government, people find it easy to pick on them, but they should be treated fairly."\nDemocratic candidate for city council, Susan Sandberg, District 2, agreed with Young, and challenged more students to join the local political arena. \n"I think a lot of students are concerned with what's happening on a national level. It's sometimes more interesting," she said. "We're dealing with streets, sewers and other things that may seem kind of mundane, but you have to pay attention to what is going on around you."\nSandberg said that she hopes students go to the Student Legal Services Web site, and read and respond to the candidates' answers. She hopes to get some feedback of her own.\n"You tell me what's on your mind, and I'll consider it," she said. "That's the fundamental of democracy."\nAnyone interested in voting in the Nov. 4 election can register at the office of the Student Legal Services at 703 E. 7th St. The candidate questionnaire, along with the responses, will be posted on the SLS Web site by late next week.\n-- Contact staff writer Jess Huffman at jerhuffm@indiana.edu.