I’ve been registering people to vote this autumn. The responses I have gotten from the student body vary. Whether I’m volunteering for a specific candidate or for a non-partisan group, there is one response that continues to irk me.

The scenario starts with me asking students if they are registered to vote. Generally this is a yes or no question, although I’ve gotten plenty of “no thanks” in response as well. What irks me, though, is when people respond that they are not registered to vote and no, they do not want to get registered. Rushing to class and not having time to register that moment is understandable, but consciously deciding that they wish not to participate at all is baffling.

This is an issue that we need to address in our society.

We’ve heard time and time again the age old phrase that we have the right to vote. It is a right. To each and every citizen who chooses to live here — whether he/she was born here or moved here from another country — if you choose to live here, then you have a say in what happens here. That’s the democratic part of our government: participation from all.

With this right comes responsibility. By voting for political candidates, we’re signifying our choice of who we want to represent us and make decisions that greatly affect all of us. To vote blindly for a candidate is intentionally showing disrespect for our country and government.

To be educated in politics is just as serious as to be educated in whatever topic you are studying in school. If Fox News is to politics as Wikipedia is to scholarly writing, then people would still watch Fox News but should never reference it. The voter’s source of information is the determining factor for what opinions they form about the candidate.

From my experience with the student body, I believe they understand you must be educated, at least a little bit, in order to vote. It’s the burden of education that deters young voters. It takes effort to learn the facts and form a truly educated opinion about topics of policy and government — effort that people just don’t want to put forth. Because of this, a great deal of news is presented to us in an entertaining fashion.

Many students watch “The Daily Show,” for example, which is no doubt packed with political information. However, we must remember Jon Stewart’s purpose, by his own admission and insistence, is to entertain, not to inform. When people mistake entertainment for information, they not only make a fool out of themselves, but they negatively influence the general public. The mistaken individuals don’t just sit in a room isolated to themselves. They talk to other people and they may or may not be discussing politics, but if they discuss anything that they have formed opinions about, they are influencing another.

So as the right to vote is is associated with a burden, it has become our duty instead of right.

What we are missing, I believe, is the perspective that education is a privilege. We take education as just a standard of life. We have unrestricted internet, we have constant information at our fingertips, and most importantly we have the First Amendment. It states we have protection against laws “abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” The purpose of such a freedom was not so that we can make fools of ourselves yelling obscenities in the streets, it was to form an informed public.

Do not misunderstand: I do not think students are not working hard for their education. It is because they are working so hard that they feel as if they don’t have any more effort to put forth. It is a change of focus or a balance of effort that should happen here.

It’s easier than people perceive to understand what’s going on. There are multiple debates happening during the month of October on campus. They are on Oct. 9 and 16. There are presidential debates on Oct. 3, 16 and 22. There is a vice presidential debate on Oct. 11. There are also informational sessions that political clubs are putting together for students as well as an open forum with Lisa Heddens and Stephen Quist, who are both running for Iowa House of Representatives.

As long as people listen to reliable information as well as think critically about the information, more people will understand their right and duty to vote.