The student government has just two weeks to meet its goal of registering 5,000 University voters in time for the November election, and officials said they are optimistic that they’ll hit that target.
By the end of Monday, volunteers from the Student Vote Coalition on the street and in classrooms had registered more than 2,000 in Eugene.
The ASUO joined forces with the Oregon Student Association, which represents Oregon’s nine public universities and colleges, and other student groups to form the coalition. There is healthy competition between the member colleges to register the most voters, ASUO state affairs coordinator Emily McLain said.
“We are leading the pack,” McLain said. “We all keep in touch to encourage each other and to see what is working.”
The coalition made presentations in classrooms, staffed a table at the Sept. 23 Ozomatli concert and had a table outside the UO Bookstore in its attempt to register voters.
McLain said some students, especially those from out-of-state who are registered there, don’t know they can register in Oregon.
“Just telling them they have the right to vote gets them excited,” she said.
The student government also has been trying to spread the word about ballot measures that student leaders say will affect higher learning.
“Eight out of 10 ballot measures will have a direct impact on students,” ASUO campus organizer Brett Rowlett said.
“The vote is at the backbone of all activism,” said Liz Karas, campus organizer for the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group. The more students sound their voices by voting, the more likely student issues will get legislators’ attention, she said.
In 2004, there was a strong youth turnout, Karas said. About 86 percent of people registered to vote in Oregon cast ballots that year.
“Some might think it was just a blip on the radar, just a fluke,” she said. “This will be a trend that will make politicians listen to our issues.”
McLain said students can make a difference in close elections.
“State legislative races and ballot initiatives are won by hundreds of votes in Oregon,” she said. “One vote, especially in Oregon, does matter.”
Student voices in Salem have helped save the Oregon Opportunity Grant, kept tuition rates from skyrocketing and saved the childcare program in Oregon, according to the OSA Web site.
McLain said the average voter in the U.S. is over 60 years of age. According to OSPIRG’s Web site, less than half of eligible 18 to 24 year olds vote.
Voter turnout reached record levels nationwide in 2004, with significant increases in the number of people 18 to 24 who registered and cast ballots, according to a March 2006 report issued by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Of the registered voters in the 18 to 24 age category, 80 percent cast their ballots in 2004, according to the report. Of people in that age category who didn’t register that year, 24 percent said they missed the deadline, the report says.
Graduate student Dave Rowland registered and voted in 2004. But he said that he doesn’t know what is on the ballot this November, and that he doesn’t plan to vote.
Senior Whitney Brown does plan to vote. She said she thinks it is important to register and to vote.
“Otherwise, you have no say in the laws that affect you,” she said.
Anyone interested in joining in the Student Vote Coalition or other campus volunteer activities may stop by the Ben Linder Room in the EMU at 7 p.m. Thursday.
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