By Carol Ann Gregg

Allied News Staff Writer

When Slippery Rock Township voters went to bed the evening of May 19, two ballot questions concerning alcohol had gone down to defeat.

The next morning, after absentee ballots were counted expectations were quickly reversed: Both questions had passed.

Voters were to decide if malt and brewed beverage licenses and liquor licenses could be issued in Slippery Rock Township. The results were 240 to 225 and 238 to 231, respectively.

The results had been helped along by Slippery Rock University students. For several years, Dr. Itzi Meztli, assistant English professor at SRU, has worked with students to encourage them to participate in the democratic process. He wants to train them in how to vote and to encourage them to make going to the polls a habit. He did so this year, as well.

“Before every election we conduct a voter registration drive,” Meztli said. “Before the presidential election we registered a lot of students.”

When the students learned that there was a “wet/dry” referendum on the ballot in Slippery Rock Township, they wanted to get involved, the professor said. They collected about 800 signatures on petitions to get the issues on the ballot.

“The students said that if Grove City could pass a wet/dry issue, surely Slippery Rock Township can,” Meztli said.

During the presidential election, about 1,500 students were registered to vote. Because so many students register, the voter registration drive didn’t go as well this spring.

“This year we wanted the students to learn about using an absentee ballot,” Meztli said. The group involved passed out 318 applications for absentee ballots.

Voting by absentee ballot is a multi-step process, the professor said. The students were encouraged to fill out the application and were told that after sending that in, they would receive the absentee ballot. After voting, they were to return the ballot to the Butler County Election Bureau.

“There was about 18 percent that actually voted by absentee,” Meztli said. There were 56 ballots returned to the election bureau. Meztli said that one ballot was denied for a technicality and of the 55 counted, 50 voted “yes” on the issues.

“This experience shows that every vote counts,” he said.