College Dems Busing U. Connecticut Students To Vote
This story was written by Kala Kachmar, The Daily Campus
The UConn College Democrats are determined to get students to vote in the democratic primary this Tuesday.
As a result, on Election Day, the Yellow Line bus will have flyers posted with directions to the Mansfield Community Center where students can vote after getting off at the Mansfield Town Hall bus stop, according to Marshall Rivers, an 8th-semester political science and geography double major and vice president of the UConn College Democrats.
The College Democrats worked with the UConn Department of Transportation to make this possible, said Kyle Sweet, an 8th-semester molecular and cell biology and political science double major and coordinator of operations for UConn transportation. The flyers encourage everyone to vote, not just Democrats.
"Our goal is nonpartisan," Sweet said. "We want to help students get to the polls as quickly and efficiently as possible. This might be one of the most important elections of our lives."
The College Democrats will be electronically keeping track of the number of democratic students registered in Mansfield that vote, Rivers said. The information will be periodically sent back to headquarters, which will be in room 316 of the Student Union.
Two designated dorm captains for each dorm complex will use the information to go door-to-door to remind registered Democrats to vote. There are 800 to 1,000 UConn students registered as Democrats in Mansfield, Rivers said.
"We're trying to show that college kids can make a difference," Rivers said. "It's not a democrats versus republicans battle, it's the battle to get the youth vote heard."
Registered democrats can expect to see flyers, chalking, e-mails and instant messages, Rivers said. Representatives from the College Democrats will also be going into large classes to remind students to vote on Tuesday.
The College Democrats registered about 150 new voters in the last few weeks, according to Rivers.
"We don't have the resources that we did in the 2006 [senatorial] election," Rivers said. "But we're trying to compensate with the all-out visual. We're trying every means possible to get the message out."
Even though the organization doesn't have the funding they did in 2006, they are more organized than before, Rivers said.
"We're a lot more prepared this year in that we have a better sense of what to do," he said. "We have a hardworking team with enthusiastic freshman and sophomores that will excel in the get out to vote campaign."
Students can vote if they are a registered Republican or Democrat in their respective primary. To register to vote, to become an affiliated voter if you are independent or to change your voting address in order to vote at UConn, go to the registrar's office in Mansfield Town Hall before noon today.
© 2008 The Daily Campus via U-WIRE