Most University students planning to vote in the Nov. 2presidential election know who to vote for, but they may have adifficult time figuring out where.
The University is divided into different voting precincts, saidElaine Lamb with East Baton Rouge Parish Registrar of Voters.
Students living on campus go to different places to votedepending on which district they live in, meaning a Universityresident could vote in a different precinct than his or her nextdoor neighbor.
Sharon Bankston, chief deputy at the Registrar of Voters Office,said there are several voting precincts within each district.
Bankston said where someone lives determines what precinct he orshe votes in.
When someone registers at the Registrar of Voters Office, he orshe is entered into the database and told what district he or sheis in and where he or she is assigned to vote.
The campus is divided along Highland Road into two mainprecincts, which fall into Council District 12.
District 46, which consists of everything east of Highland Road,votes at University Terrace Elementary School on Roosevelt St.
District 144, which consists of everything west of HighlandRoad, votes at the University Lab School.
University students living in apartments and houses insurrounding areas could also be registered in Districts 10, 41 or69.
Most of the rest of campus is in Council District 10.
“In all, there are five different voting precincts for LSUstudents,” Lamb said.
“The districting has nothing to do with LSU,” Bankston said.”The districts and, therefore the precincts, are determined bystatistics drawn from the census taken every 10 years.”
Bankston said the divisions are based on certain ratios neededin council districts.
Jessica Stewart, of Student Government’s Division ofAdministrative and Legislative Affairs, said she has researched theUniversity’s voter precincts for some time.
“College campuses are usually split,” Stewart said. “I thinkit’s silly to tell two friends who live across the street from eachother that they vote in two different precincts.”
Some students think where someone votes is immaterial.
“I don’t think it’s a big deal where you vote as long as youvote somewhere,” said Mark Whitney, an English freshman.
Some students think students voting in different places is agood idea.
“If everyone had to vote in one place, it would be really hard,”said Madeline Brown, a mass communication freshman. “LSU has a hugecampus.”
Stewart said she hopes to change the city council’s divisions ofthe University’s Baton Rouge campus after the Nov. 2 election.
“LSU is such a big part of the city,” Stewart said. “It shouldall be in one district.”
Casey Cashio, the assistant council administrator with the BatonRouge Metro Council, said Stewart would have a difficult timeachieving this goal.
“There is no way to split a precinct,” Cashio said. “There areways to move a precinct into a different district, but thatreapportionment is done according to the census every 10years.”