The ASUO and the Oregon Students Association have been working tirelessly to register 5,000 people to vote in the upcoming November elections and they’re optimistic about reaching their goal. The Emerald commends Emily McLain and the student volunteers from the ASUO in their efforts to register new voters around campus. It is a noble task, and they are getting good results. We are happy to see the University’s student government taking a leading role to register college students in the state.
But while there is so much well-intentioned hounding from the ASUO and OSA to vote, they seem to be overlooking an important aspect of the importance of voting: what we’re voting for.
Along with registering people, volunteers should be distributing information about candidates, ballot measures and other legislation that affects student voters. If the purpose of the initiative is to register students so that they will get to the polls and vote on issues pertinent to students, it is important to provide the appropriate information upon registration. There are a range of measures on the ballot in this election that have serious consequences for higher education. These are things that ASUO volunteers should be communicating to the people they’re registering. It’s in their best interest to inform these newly registered student voters.
What inspires people to go to the polls are the issues they feel strongly about. If during this voting campaign, information about the measure that would require parental notification before teen abortions was distributed alongside voter registration cards, people would likely be more impassioned about getting to the polls to affect this landmark measure.
The ASUO’s goal is ambitious and we applaud it for that. Perhaps because of the lofty goal, however, some of the volunteers’ registration tactics have been inappropriately aggressive.
A student reported being followed by a volunteer from the EMU Amphitheater, up the walkway to the EMU, through the doors and up a flight of stairs. The volunteer was badgering, not soliciting politely, and provided incorrect information, saying that it was possible to vote in state elections for both Oregon and California in the same election year.
Registering people to vote is a job to be taken seriously and volunteers should be qualified and well-informed regarding any questions they might receive. Furthermore, the actions of this one specific volunteer were invasive and unwelcomed.
The friendly competition between the state universities to register voters is a healthy and constructive incentive for the success of these registration initiatives. The volunteers, however, shouldn’t forget the reason why they want people to vote in the first place: civic engagement and a more actualized democratic process. They should not make their mission registering a sheer volume of voters, who may or may not be informed about what’s at stake.
The ASUO’s volunteers should exercise a degree of restraint in their tactics, also. We understand that the current goal is to register as many people as possible, but the type of heckling that has occurred will do nothing but further disenchant students from the voting process.