Yes, it bothers me, these people who are allowed on campus to collect signatures every semester for one petition or another. I am all for getting the freshmen registered to vote; to me, that is a good thing. They usually hang out around the Campus Center and catch you coming or going to class and to the cafeteria.
This is something I have experienced every semester here at Bakersfield College: signature gatherers pestering students every semester. It is not a good thing. If we see them on campus it seems that we take for granted that what they are doing or trying to get us to do is OK with some one in charge somewhere, but we do not know where. It seems that they come up with a petition that young people will agree with.
The gatherers also assume that the students do not care what becomes of the petition or their name on the petition.
Is it possible to forge someone’s signatures for the purpose of identity theft? Does anyone investigate these signature gathers? They just come in and explain themselves to the Activities Office people, and they are allowed to roam the campus.
The next time these signature gatherers (for lack of a better name) are on campus, do like I have done and sit back and watch them. Watch to see whom they approach and how they approach them.
Before writing this opinion piece, I asked a few students what they thought about these people who come on campus to get our signatures just to get a feel for this particular subject. Two agreed with me while two other students disagreed with me. This doesn’t matter as long as someone in the end knows what becomes of your signature.