Yesterday campus saw Eastern students at their most inspiring. Seeing students stuff the halls of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union for hours while they waited for their time to cast their votes was one of the most exhilarating things I’ve ever witnessed at Eastern.

For years our generations has been reprimanded by educators, politicians and even our own peers for being too apathetic, but on this Election Day the students on Eastern’s campus hushed those critics.

They came out in droves to vote for Bush, Kerry, the war in Iraq, the economy and, most importantly, their futures.

But the inner pessimist in me wonders how many of these students would have been at the polls if this was not a national election. My guess is not many.

This presidential election has been the most fascinating and divisive race of our time. Many students are focused on removing President Bush from office. Many are just as focused on keeping him in.

But there was more than one position on the ballot. Students who voted also had to decide on a senator, congressman, state representative, state’s attorney for Coles County, county coroner and the retention of several judges. All of these decisions will affect the lives of Eastern students during the span of each officials respective term.

Several students said they felt they had a duty to participate in democracy, and that holds true for all elections, not just this particular presidential election.

Several students didn’t vote in Coles County because they filed absentee ballots in their hometowns, but students should cast their ballots in Charleston.

Students become individuals separate from their parents during their time at college. I would venture to say most students who file absentee ballots in their hometowns vote for the candidates their parents encourage them to vote for. That is not the action of an individual.

Then there is the argument that students are only in Charleston for a few years, and when they are in Charleston, they are only there for nine months of the year.

That may be true, but Charleston population has swelled in August and reseated in May ever since 1895. Just because the current students who vote now will not be here in two, three or four years, that doesn’t mean that students’ opinions shouldn’t matter in the local elections. The students here now experience the same problems and benefits of local government as the multiple class before them and the multiple classes that will come after them. In general, the students of today will have the same local concerns of the students of tomorrow.

Stubborn people may argue that students are not affected by the policy of local officials. This simply isn’t so. Students are affected by local policy every day. Students, who Charleston’s economy depends on, pay local sales tax, drive on city roads, drink Charleston water, are protected by Charleston police and are rescued by Charleston firefighters.

Students also indirectly pay property taxes, which pay for many of the fine services listed above.

It’s fantastic that students came out and voted yesterday like so many members of the public have asked them to. But this is just one step for our generation toward respect in the political arena. Students must take their experiences from this election, good or bad, and use them for motivation to participate in elections to come.