Allegheny County held elections on Nov 3. According to Allegheny County’s Unofficial Results summary report, there was a voter turn out of only 25.95 percent of registered voters in the county; 221,564 ballots were cast at the polls from a pool of 853,725 registered voters.

Robert Morris University promoted the Nov. 3 election by having voter registration forms available as well as enticing students into voting: if students brought their voting receipt to the PNC Colonial Cafe, they received a free smiley cookie.

Twelve students were asked about the Nov. 13 election, and their answers were quite shocking. Only one of the 12 students participated in the Nov. 3 election. Out of those twelve, only five are registered to vote.

“I’m from Beaver County, and I was surprised that the Republicans won out,” stated Josh McElhaney when asked on his opinion of voting Nov 3. As the only student interviewed who had participated in the election.

Logan Snyder, a student who is registered to vote, shared that she did not participate in the Nov. 3 election because, “I had to vote in my hometown, but I don’t have a car.”

“I’m registered in my hometown, but not in Moon,” said Taylor Bable when asked why she didn’t participate in the Nov. 3 Allegheny County election.

Lauren Kelly is a registered voter, but she shared that she did not vote on Nov. 3 because, “I just moved, so I didn’t have the time to change the voter registration.”

When those who are not registered to vote were asked why they haven’t registered yet, many answered the same thing: they just haven’t gotten around to it.

The general consensus from those who have not yet registered to vote is that they are not planning to do so before the upcoming presidential election.

It presents a new question for us as we progress into upcoming elections: how do we motivate people to register and come to vote?