For exchange students, the American political system can be confusing, overwhelming or irrelevant.

Although international and exchange students cannot vote in the election today because they are not American citizens, many issues to be decided in this election are similar to issues in their country.

According to Daphne Busseniers, an exchange student from Belgium in the College of Business Administration, her country does not have a death penalty.

Spain also does not have the death penalty, said Luis Casero, an exchange student from Madrid in the College of Business Administration, while studying with Busseniers in her apartment Sunday night.

Both students know that the election is coming up, but because they cannot vote they have not spent a lot of time familiarizing themselves with the issues here in the U.S., but they have opinions on the problems at home.

"The idea of taking someone's life because they killed someone is not logical," he said.

According to Casero, the justice system in Spain has flaws.

"In Spain, judges give penalties of 200 years, which is stupid," he said. "Even though it is a life sentence, the prisons run out of space and the criminal who had a 200-year sentence will get out in less then 5 years."

There is a similar problem in Belgium, according to Busseniers.

"The criminals are not afraid of getting in trouble because they know they will be out of prison soon enough," she said. "So they do it again."

However, Busseniers said the death penalty is not the answer.

"It is not a good solution," she said. "There are so many ways mistakes can be made with the death penalty."

Other solutions exist, she said.

"They should do some community service and get involved in the community and see how they can make it a better place," Busseniers said.

According to Pinar Topsakal, an international student from Turkey who has attended Marquette as a student in the College of Business Administration for three years, the Turkish government wants to get in the European Union and in order to do so they need to abolish the death penalty.

"They haven't used the death penalty in years but it is legal," she said.

Topsakal said that many exchange students do not pay attention to the election because they cannot vote.

"If it did apply to me, I would've educated myself about the issues and candidates," she said.

The nature of political parties in Europe is different, according to Casero.

"Every two years we vote for a representative but it is so complicated because there are 10 parties," he said.

In both Spain and Belgium, citizens have to be 18 to vote in elections.

To win an election in Spain, a party needs to get 50 percent of the vote, which means that sometimes three political parties need to work together to get the majority.

"Then it is all very confusing because each party has their own platform," he said. "There are always two big parties against each other, then they will pick up another party if they need the support."

According to Marie Chabanais, an exchange student from France, the French system of government is different from the U.S.

"The American system is very different because every state has its own politics, taxes and laws," she said. "The federal system is good for the U.S. because it is such a big country."

The French system is similar to the Spanish system, she said.

"In France there are many parties," she said. "As many as 10 to 15 people run for president."

The two major political parties in France are called the Left and the Right. They have beliefs similar to liberals and conservatives in the U.S., she said. France also has many other smaller parties like environmental and communist parties, she said.

The European Constitution is an initiative started in 2004 that attempted to clarify the nature of the European Union in its relationship to the member countries and its policies. The constitution attempts to streamline many of the big issues for member countries and make many human rights the same among member nations. Each member country has to ratify the constitution.

"We could vote yes if we want the European Constitution or no and each country would have their own constitution," Casero said. "Many people did not know what they were voting for."

The other big issue in the midterm election is Wisconsin's referendum on marriage. For international students, decisions have already been made about same-sex marriage in their home countries.

According to Chabanais, the French Legislature, the Assemble Nationale decided not to allow gay marriage in France.

"There is a type of union but there are less rights for gay people," she said.

According to Casero, the Spanish government decided to allow gay marriage but many people disagree with the law.

"The government made the move but it is very controversial because a lot of Catholics in Spain do not agree with it," he said.

According to Topsakal, the same-sex marriage issue does not exist in Turkey.

"Same-sex marriage is not an issue because 99 percent of Turkey is Muslim," she said.

People are unlikely to support same-sex marriage in Turkey, she said.