I remember the day as if it were yesterday. It was a beautiful fall day at Boston University – Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2004. I rushed out of my 11 a.m. freshman humanities class, my friend Brian Halloran and I hopped in my jeep and we were on our way to our respective polling stations near Philadelphia, Pa. We were two politically charged BU students ready to vote.

But you see, being the young naive freshmen we were . . . we both waited too long to register for our absentee ballots. I will admit, the 650-mile round trip to Pennsylvania and back to cast our vote was fun and has since become one of my most memorable stories from my time at BU – nonetheless, don’t make the same mistake I did. Do not wait to register for your absentee ballot. Do it today. As a fellow Terrier, I invite all of you to check out websites like so that you can request your absentee ballot.

And as a former student leader, I urge all the student leadership at BU to encourage not only everyone in your clubs and organizations to request their absentee ballot, but your friends and peers as well. You really do have an influence on your peers – they look up to you and will follow your lead. Register today.

Mark DiCristofaro

CAS ’08

former Student Union vice president