Take one last look at the large, green ballot box in the EMU Breezeway because come next week, it will be just a pile of wood and an empty space.
Constructed more than two weeks ago by the Carpenter’s Union, the “World’s Largest Ballot Box” will be dismantled by the same group this weekend, and the University’s Facilities Services will take the leftover wood.
“I’ll probably keep a chunk for memory’s sake,” ASUO President Jay Breslow said.
But the box won’t have completely run its course until it has survived the final election day push on Tuesday.
Ballot drop boxes are open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Students who are filing ballots from counties other than Lane should be aware that they must turn their ballots in to the ASUO Executive Office (not the ballot box) by 3 p.m. today, or else their vote will not be counted.
ASUO Legislative Organizer Melissa Unger said that Lane County Elections officials anticipate a flood of ballots over the next two days. They plan to empty the ASUO’s box three times on Monday because they think it will be full.
Lane County Elections (LCE) report that 28 percent — 54,000 of the more than 189,000 ballots sent out — of Eugene voters had returned their ballots by 3 p.m. Friday.
LCE still expects huge lines of people wanting to submit ballots Tuesday night. Officials will accept the ballots of those who are in line before 8 p.m. Tuesday night, Unger said. But anyone there one minute or more after the 8 p.m. deadline will be too late.
One large group of voters plans to vote for certain on Tuesday.
Between 50 and 75 University students of color will collectively take their ballots to the ASUO’s box at noon on Tuesday to “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” an effort coordinated by the Multicultural Center.
“We’re doing it because we want to show the campus and the Eugene community — and, I guess, the world — that we are taking control of our vote, and that we care,” said Brandy Alexander, public relations coordinator for the MCC.
The ASUO’s drop box appears to have done its job, attracting ballots from University students as well as other community members, such as state Rep. Vicki Walker, who is running for re-election this term.
But there’s a chance that the edifice may be torn down without having reached its desired status of the “World’s Largest Ballot Box.”
Breslow said that the box can’t really be called the “world’s largest” because communication with the Guinness Book of World Records has broken down. The only contact person he had failed to answer his e-mails. Recently, the e-mails he sent have started coming back to him.
Even so, Breslow said he plans to continue working on pulling together the items necessary to obtain “world’s largest” status for the box.
In the meantime, the ASUO will continue its effort to remind people to turn in their ballots. Their Youth Vote 2000 campaign consists of “canvassing” — going door-to-door — and making phone calls to some of the more than 5,000 voters the ASUO registered during its voter registration drive earlier this term. Door-to-door contacts were conducted last weekend, while phone calls to a list of 1,650 student voters have been made in a series of three rounds, with the last round set to take place today.
The entire effort is part of a study by Donald Green, a professor of political science at Yale University. Green has been examining what affects voter turnout — how and why people vote — for the past 12 years.
Through his studies, Unger said, Green has found that canvassing is one of the best ways to get people to vote.
Green is also studying what happens when voters are left alone, so the ASUO has set aside a “control group” of people they aren’t contacting at all.
After the election, Unger said, Green will follow up with some of the voters by conducting a mini-questionnaire asking what made them decide to either vote or not vote.