Though approximately 500 University students are registered to vote in Tuesday’s Middletown mayoral election, campus political groups are scrambling to make sure recent confusion surrounding the accuracy of student addresses does not curb student voter turnout. In the election, Republican incumbent Mayor Sebastian Giuliano is being challenged by Democratic Councilman Dan Drew and Independent candidate Christine Bourne.

In recent weeks, the Wesleyan Democrats (WesDems) have gone door-to-door in residence halls in an effort to register students to vote in the election. The deadline for registration has been extended to Monday, Nov. 7 because of the recent power outages.

In 2009 Drew lost to Giuliano by 486 votes. According to WesDems presidents Ben Florsheim ’14 and Gabriela De Golia ’13, the narrow margin suggests that Wesleyan students may have some sway in this election’s outcome.

“We definitely felt the need to get students to vote so that there would be more of a sense that we as Wesleyan students are residents of Middletown and emphasize that we as a school have a great effect on Middletown and vice versa,” De Golia said.

According to Florsheim, once the incumbent mayor’s office became aware of the high number of student voter registration and expressed concern to the registrar, confusion arose surrounding whether registered students need to provide their WesBox address or the address of their residence on campus.

“I think that that [the high number of registrations] made them nervous because the perception is that the Wesleyan student body leans to the left and if they vote they’re going to vote Democratic,” Florsheim said.

The results of the investigation by the mayor’s office, according to Florsheim, De Golia, and coverage in the Middletown Press and Middletown Patch, revealed that Connecticut state law mandates that because the Wesleyan campus is divided among four voting districts, students must register under their residential address. Additionally, though students have traditionally been able to vote at the Middletown Senior Center, they will now be required to vote at one of four polling stations based on their residential addresses.

Paul Gionfriddo ’75, former mayor of Middletown, said that the confusion that has arisen results from the division of the Wesleyan campus between multiple voting districts.

“In my view the need for them to use dorm addresses really flows from the manner in which the school has been divided into multiple precincts and could definitely lead to problems where students could move from one dorm to another and could theoretically be erased from the voter list or be accused of doing something that’s improper or illegal,” he said.

Florsheim and De Golia said that though the confusion was unfortunate, they hope to move forward in order to maximize student voter turnout.

“We went along with what the status quo had been,” Florsheim said. “The registrar’s office was not aware of this state law until now when they were asked to look into it by the Republicans. We’re obviously going to now move forward with that new info and cooperate and try to inform students to the best of our ability that there has been a change. It was unfortunate that it came out the way that it did at the 11th hour.”

Florsheim and De Golia said that they are working quickly to spread word of the changes. They encouraged students to look in their mailboxes to confirm their polling station, and that they hope to provide some form of transportation for students who incorrectly show up at the Senior Center to vote. Students who are incorrectly registered under their WesBox will be asked to fill out a transfer of address form when they arrive to vote, but will still be able to vote, Florsheim and De Golia said.

“All of this is definitely making it more difficult for Wesleyan students to preserve their constitutional right to vote,” De Golia said. “This is concerning for us who have been working so hard on getting people registered to vote, but it should also concern Wesleyan students so as to make them ask why it’s been so difficult for them to vote and uphold their basic constitutional right.”

Giuliano, who appeared on campus Wednesday to speak with students, said that he encourages students to vote, especially those who have taken the time to get involved in the Middletown community.

“If a student is basically voting for a party because somebody says ‘Hey, come down and vote for this party’ but they know nothing about [the issues], it’s probably not the most responsible thing to do,” he said. “But I think if you’re going to take the time to get involved in this community, then you have a right to have a say in the direction it goes.”

Guiliano said many student voters may even be more equipped to vote than some Middletown residents.

“I see Wesleyan students everywhere, and just about anything going on [in Middletown], there are Wesleyan students involved,” he said. “Now I can compare that to some shlub who lays on his couch all day, guzzles beer, and watches COPS and Keeping up with the Kardashians and Jackass and has no clue what’s going on in this community—nobody questions that guy’s right to vote in Middletown. And who looks more like a citizen to you?”

Additionally, according to Florsheim and De Golia, Officer Tom Sebold, who works for the Middletown Police Department,  has been spreading information online warning that students who are not official residents of Connecticut may face legal consequences if they register to vote in the state without obtaining a Connecticut driver’s license, registering their cars at their University residences, and listing Middletown as their place of residence on Federal Income Tax Forms if they work during the school year.

Calls to Sebold were not returned. However, Florsheim and De Golia, citing the Office of Legislative Research of Connecticut, said that his statements are untrue, and that as college students, student voters are exempt from these regulations.

“The way that he is saying it, is being done in a way that could be perceived as intimidating,” De Golia said. “As far as we know, the mayor of Middletown has not made any public statements about his comments, which is also concerning.”

Assistant to the Secretary of the State for Election, Legislative, and Intergovernmental Affairs Peggy Reeves confirmed in an email to The Argus that students will not be subject to the penalties of the kind spread by Sebold, but that students do indeed need to provide their residential addresses in order to vote.

Florsheim and De Golia also said that while Giuliano was speaking to students in Usdan on Wednesday, students may have gotten the impression from him that they must physically go to the registrar’s office this week to confirm their residential address. They said that students will not have to physically appear this week, but will be able to give verbal confirmation of their residence on Election Day.

President Michael Roth said that he was proud of the students who have registered to vote.

“I am really pleased that Wesleyan students are getting involved in local politics,” he said. “I met with the mayor and he mentioned that it’s got to be a good thing, and this is a Republican who must feel that a lot of Wesleyan students are likely to register as Democrats. I think Wesleyan students’ engagement can make a positive contribution to everything from the school district to Main Street.”

Candidate Drew echoed Giuliano’s sentiments about student registration, saying that he was pleased with the large amount of registered voters.

“People have open minds and weigh all the facts, and that’s been my experience with voters,” he said. “I’m sure Wesleyan students will do their due diligence and make the appropriate decision about who should be in office. I think any time that people get engaged in the political process and any time people have a voice in who their leaders are, it’s a healthy thing.”