Vop Osili, Indiana Secretary of State Democratic candidate, spoke to the College Democrats in University Center North, room 121, on Wednesday, Jan. 13.
Osili, who arrived late due to GPS navigation troubles, addressed students and explained his reasons for running for the position of Indiana Secretary of State.
It has been 16 years since Indiana has had a Democrat as a secretary of state. The office has become a tie-breaker in the vote for the Indiana House of Representatives.
“This race is very important,” Osili said. “The office of Secretary of State is very important, and I believe that we must take it back.”
Chris Coyle, public relations officer for the IUS College Democrats, introduced Osili.
“Some candidates you meet, you just know they are something special,” Coyle said. “Vop is one of those people.”
Osili is currently an architect and owner of an Indianapolis-based architecture firm. He has also been involved in finance and strategy in former campaigns.
Osili said he has two main visions for his campaign.
“Two things that are important are elections services and business services here in Indiana,” Osili said.
Osili said Indiana has some of the most restrictive laws in the United States for voting. Osili told an impassioned story
of a U.S. Congress member who was turned away because her Congress ID had no expiration date on it.
Osili went on to talk about his experiences briefly living in places run under dictatorships. He said voting should be the easiest of our fundamental rights to exercise.
As a small-business owner, Osili also went into great detail about the potential the office of Secretary of State has for helping small businesses.
“In this economy, I don’t think there’s anything more important today than strengthening businesses and creating jobs,” Osili said.
Osili described a program he had in mind to develop for the office of Secretary of State to be involved in business development. Every business must go through the Secretary of State office for approval. Osili said he was qualified for the office as a likely candidate for effective business development and networking.
“It’s an untapped potential,” Osili said.
For more information on Osili’s campaign, visit his Web site, votevop.com.
By MICHELE HOP
Staff Writer
mhop@ius.edu