The 19-foot-2.5-inch green ballot box, which towered over the EMU Courtyard last year, was hard to miss during the 2000 election.
Initiated by former ASUO President Jay Breslow, the “World’s Largest Ballot Box” was part of the voter participation campaign, aiming to ignite election interest.
Although there probably won’t be a 19-foot-tall object to get students’ attention this year, the Oregon Youth Vote Coalition is working on other ways to fight student apathy and show state candidates that students’ issues should be addressed.
“Students in the past have been seen as an apathetic group with a disinterest in politics,” Oregon Student Association communication coordinator Julie Suchanek-Ritchie said. “After the 2000 election, that’s not true.”
The coalition, which includes ASUO, OSA, Sen. Susan Castillo and other members, will kick off the 2002 election cycle today at 10 a.m. in the Ben Linder Room. Disbursing election information and bringing candidates to campus will be two of the goals until the race in May, coalition members said.
Candidates also need to be reminded that students make up a large voting population and should be represented, ASUO President Nilda Brooklyn said. She added that although May is a long way off, efforts to increase election education and interest should be ongoing.
“We want to make a continuous effort because voting is not just a one-time thing,” she said. “We also want the candidates showing that higher education is a priority for them.”
Last year, more than 5,000 students registered to vote during the campaign, OSA Executive Director Joelle Lester said. And more than 80 percent of students and youth in student-heavy precincts — a precinct where more than 50 percent of voters are students — voted in Lane County.
Lester, who coordinated the campaign last year, said although the numbers may have been high because it was a presidential voting season, Oregon’s campaign was still extremely successful.
“The University of Oregon had one of the best mobilization drives in the country,” she said. “The turnout was incredible.”
She mentioned that Donald Green, a professor at Yale University, did a report on the impact of nonpartisan voter mobilization efforts on voters between the ages of 18 and 30. He cited the University as one of the most successful in recruiting voters.
Door-to-door visits, person-to-person phone calls and visibility on campus appeared to be the most effective strategies from last year, Lester said.
The coalition also aims to make information as accessible as possible by pushing election offices to mail out educational pamphlets and answer questions over the phone.
Senior business major Todd Nakayama said although he is a registered voter, he has never voted because he didn’t know enough about the issues. This kind of campaign could help, he said.
“My feeling is if I don’t know enough about it, I don’t want to make a decision to put someone in power,” he said.
Beata Mostafavi is the student activities editor for the Oregon Daily Emerald. She can be reached at [email protected].