Dear Molly Salafia,

I read your recent Wespeak, “A Plea to Wesleyan Students,” with great interest, as I have actively been involved with the voter registration efforts on campus. “Please be careful when you vote,” you warned us. “Use your head, be kind, and keep citizens at the front of your mind rather than party affiliation. Realize your vote may weigh more than you know.”

Thank you for reminding Wesleyan students that their votes in the November 8th election are crucial. In fact, your sudden attention to the Wesleyan community reveals that you and the Republican Party of Middletown understand the importance of student votes. In fact, you all are threatened by our political power, so I have a plea for you: stop discouraging Wesleyan students from exercising our constitutional right to vote.

Wesleyan has no central polling center–apparently, that would make it too easy for us to exercise our basic constitutional rights. Instead, Wesleyan has been gerrymandered into four different districts for the coming elections, some of which are not within walking distance. This recent decision does not serve the best interests of the community, but instead helps your cause to deter us from voting.

Do you really need to prevent Wesleyan students from voting so badly and restrict access to voting places in order to ensure your party’s candidates’ are elected? Additionally, if you would like us to weigh the facts and “use our heads” in voting, then perhaps you should do the same and stop spreading false information to students. In your article, you wrote, “These students have also not been educated, from my understanding, to the fact that by changing their permanent address to Middletown, they are now subject to local car tax and possibly state income tax.”

Molly Salafia, this statement is completely false. The Connecticut Office of Legislative Research has confirmed that students are not subject to such taxes if they vote in their college town. Your statement has been echoed by others in the Republican establishment, such as Officer Tom Sebold (who, as a law enforcement officer, I would expect to correctly report the laws). Your statement is simply a rumor to scare students from registering to vote.

Please understand, Molly Salafia, that I am taking your plea very seriously. I don’t understand why certain members of the Middletown community would not want active and engaged students participating in town politics–unless certain politicians felt threatened by the likely political affiliation of these students. After noting that your party is trying to stop us from voting, I wonder if a party that tries to impede upon the rights of its constituents is best for all of us. In light of all this, I will certainly not vote for the Republican Party this election. I hope other students will join me November 8th in standing up for their right to vote against these oppressive tactics employed by Middletown Republicans.