Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to the front-page article in Friday’s paper about the student ballots from Florida being rejected. In the article, the executive director of civic relations on the SAC, Janeal Thornock, is quoted as saying BYUSA “could not be expected to know the policies for all 50 states.” I disagree with this. If the SAC and BYUSA, are going to support voting and run a program to get students here registered, they should do their homework and make sure they are actually able to provide that service. If they don’t know that certain states will accept ballots from Utah or that students must register in person for the first time or that photocopies are invalid, BYUSA should find this information before purporting to help the students from those states. BYUSA should not have relied on the individual states to notify it of any problems. That could be compared with robbing a store, then letting the shop owner know that if he has a problem with it, he should let you know later. In short, I believe BYUSA personnel **should** be expected to know the policies of individual states. If they don’t have the resources to do that, they shouldn’t provide the service at all.
Matt Christensen
Provo
