Appalachian The
Appalachian State University's student newspaper since 1934
Thursday, August 22, 2013
www.TheAppalachianOnline.com
Voting changes sweep county, state
Vol. 88, No. 01
Bowen W. Jones | The Appalachian
The Watauga Agricultural Conference Center, located at 252 Poplar Grove Road, is now the Election Day voting site for Boone. The site has approximately 30 parking spaces and an Appalcart bus stop one-fifth of a mile away.
by Chelsey Fisher Senior News Reporter
Gov. Pat McCrory signed new voting laws in North Carolina on Aug. 12, the same day the Watauga County Board of Elections changed voting precincts for residents in Watauga County. New state regulations on voting include the need for voter identification as well as prohibiting registering and voting on the same day during early voting. Locally, the removal of on-campus voting at Appalachian State University could affect student voting. State changes show their residence,” Ardoin said. “That is going to be a much larger North Carolina voters will now be required to show a state-issued ID issue and have a much greater impact on limiting student voting and card before voting. While student IDs issued by universities will not be participation.” accepted, military IDs, passports and drivers licensArdoin, who is currently researching college stues will all be accepted. dent voting, said both the county and state decisions Citizens without any of these forms of identificacould have a negative effect on students in the long If we can engage people tion can receive a free ID from the Department of term. when they’re young, we find Motor Vehicles, McCrory said in the News & Ob“I understand the short term,” Ardoin said. that they become engaged server. “They’re not getting the support from college stuand stay engaged in politics McCrory said that the benefits of an ID requiredents, so the idea is, ‘Let’s prevent them from votment reach further than just eliminating voter fraud. and civic engagement, which ing.’ But there are some major long-term implica“It will also allow the recipient to engage in a numtions of this.” I think we’d all agree is an ber of mainstream activities that require a photo ID, These implications include a possible link for stuimportant issue. such as conducting financial transactions, traveling, dents between voter suppression and the Watauga applying for government benefits or buying Sudafed County Republican Party, he said. Phillip Ardoin, associate professor of government and justice studies at the local drug store,” McCrory said in the News & The lack of on-campus voting could also cause Observer. students to be less interested in civic engagement, Students are still able to vote in their college-adArdoin said. dress precinct if they are registered in the precinct, “If we can engage people when they’re young, we regardless of the address listed on their IDs, said Phillip Ardoin, an as- find that they become engaged and stay engaged in politics and civic sociate professor of government and justice studies. engagement, which I think we’d all agree is an important issue,” he said. While the county changes are important, the state changes will most “But this legislation and these recent changes in voting laws and stangreatly affect students, he said. dards of voting in Boone clearly are going to reduce participation and “While changing the precincts is important – it’s going to cause lines and stuff like that – the bigger issue for ASU students is the change of Voting | see page 2 voting ID and the inability for students to use their ASU IDs to vote and
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Cottages of Boone begin move-ins after delays
Paul Heckert | The Appalachian
Sophomore sustainable development major Pranav Gogate (left) and junior finance major Muzammil Syed work with Campus Bellhops, a college move-in company that helped move residents into The Cottages of Boone on Aug. 18. The move-in date was pushed back from Aug. 15 after construction delays caused by excessive rain during the summer and failed inspections. Students who were not able to move in on time were placed in hotels until their cottage is completed. The Cottages of Boone are prorating tenants’ rent until they are able to move in and are paying for hotel costs.
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Winkler to be demolished by Nicole Bellamy Intern News Reporter
Plans to renovate Winkler Residence Hall have been canceled due to costs, and instead the building will be demolished. Appalachian State University had been working with architects on possible renovations when it was discovered that the architects were incorrect in their cost estimate by more than $6 million. It was decided that there was not enough money to make noticeable changes, said Tim Kane, director of the Department of Housing and Residence Life. "If we couldn't do it right we just decided we can't afford to do anything,” Kane said. There are plans to build something once Winkler has been demolished hopefully within three to five years, Kane said. Though Appalachian’s campus is short on beds for incoming freshmen, it is not due to the change of plans for Winkler. Kane said that about 25 males and 47 females are living with residence assistants in the tra-
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Lacy Matusek | The Appalachian
Winkler Residence Hall is closed to students this year and is scheduled to be demolished due to lack of funding necessary for a renovation.
ditional residence halls and five females are living in two lounges in Belk Hall. “The primary reason we are short on beds for freshmen is that we have not received the number of returning student cancellations we had anticipated upon previous years’ records,” Kane said. The closing of Winkler has not affected the surplus of students living on campus in any way, Kane said. “We knew last year we were not using Winkler, so it was not included in the room
reapplication process for this fall,” he said. “So no students were assigned to Winkler.” Associate Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Services Susan Davies said she believes there will be no affect on future enrollment. “Our projection for fall 2014 is 3,000 freshmen and 1,025 transfer students," Davies said. “Any changes with Winkler Hall will have no impact on the freshmen or transfer numbers that we plan to admit and seek to enroll for fall 2014.”
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