A group of Wesleyan students called Wednesday on Middletown Mayor Sebastian Giuliano and the Middletown Republican Party to cease their campaign of intimidation and false information intended to stop Wesleyan students from voting in next Tuesday’s election.

“It’s disgusting and shameful that Middletown’s Republican Mayor and some of his supporters are doing their utmost to make it difficult for Wesleyan students to vote,” said Rebecca Caspar-Johnson ’15. “Republican Seb Giuliano needs to re-read the Constitution.”

On Wednesday, Giuliano appeared at Wesleyan’s Usdan Center in person to tell students–wrongly–that they needed to provide identification in person at City Hall before they would be allowed to vote. Earlier this week, Middletown’s Republican Registrar of Voters was quoted in the Middletown Press saying that she would try to block as many as half of the registered voters at Wesleyan from voting–before backtracking a day later.

Students who are registered to vote will still be eligible to vote in one of four polling locations, depending on where they live. Students need to check their WesBoxes in order to read a letter from the Registrar of Voters telling them where they will be voting. “This is a disturbing pattern of behavior,” said Michael Linden ’15. “Molly Salafia, one of Giuliano’s Republican candidates, wrote a Wespeak urging students not to vote–and Tom Sebold, a Middletown cop and Giuliano volunteer–has threatened students who try to vote with bogus tax charges.”

Linden has said that he is strongly considering filing complaints with the State Elections Enforcement Commission and the United States Department of Justice. “Wesleyan students are Middletown residents and we have every right to vote in next Tuesday’s election. We will fight to protect our Constitutional rights,” Linden said.

Exercise your constitutional right to vote by voting in the mayoral election next Tuesday, November 8th. Polls will be open from 6AM to 8PM, and vans will leave from the Usdan Center on Tuesday for each location. If you are not yet registered to vote, you may still go to the Registrar of Voters to register to vote (located at 245 Dekoven Drive, open from 8:30am to 4:30pm) and you find your polling location by calling 860-344-3485.

Note: Zachary Dravis is not a staff member of The Argus.