Groups register students to vote

With the deadline for Indiana voter registration of Oct. 4 nearing, students sporting "VOTE" wristbands and "Register to Vote" T-shirts around campus this week will attempt to register new voters as part of the Student Voter Registration Blitz and the New Voters Project.\nRepresentatives from many student groups on campus, such as INPIRG, No Sweat, IUSA, Students for Global Democracy, Amnesty International, IU Hip-Hop Congress, IU College Democrats, IU College Republicans and the Black Student Union have worked this fall to register new voters, and with the help of the Civic Engagement Committee, they have pooled their efforts to help IU reach the national goal of 500,000 new voters for the upcoming presidential election.\nThe Office of Community Outreach & Partnerships in Service-Learning was one of the departments of the CEC that brought together the idea of combining the efforts of the groups wanting to register new students.\nNicole Schönemann, assistant director of COPSL, said the organizations thought it would be a good idea to coordinate those efforts. \n"It would not only be more meaningful, but also more effective," she said.\nStationed at the Sample Gates Monday, senior Daniel Cappy participated in the efforts by asking passersby to take two minutes and fill out the registration form on his clipboard. He is an affiliate of INPIRG, Students for Global Democracy and Amnesty International.\n"Right now, as it stands at the last election, only 36 percent of voters between the ages of 18 and 24 voted," Cappy said. "That demographic is negligible compared to the senior citizens who voted, which is 70 percent."\nCappy said that the age bracket of 18- to 24-year-olds needs to turn out about 40 percent of voters in order for a lobbying group to have any power in politics.\n"Right now, almost two-thirds of the body of our age group could agree on an issue and not have it passed," Cappy said.\nINPIRG and other groups are involved in the nationwide campaign to reach a half-million new voters this fall, which would push the percentage of 18- to 24-year-old voters showing up at the polls from 36 percent to 40 percent, reaching the lobbying threshold. \nCappy said IU's goal is to register 3,200 new voters by Oct. 4. As of last week, he estimated that the groups have already reached over 1,000 new voters.\nNot only does Cappy find it important for his peers' voices to be heard, but he finds it a personal matter, as well.\n"When it comes to voting," Cappy said, "if I don't get 40 percent of people aged 18 to 24 (to register), no matter what their beliefs are to be heard, then no matter what, my opinion isn't going to be heard. That's important to me."\nJunior Caitlin Dugdale registered to vote Monday in the Indiana Memorial Union. This is the first election in which she can vote, so she said she felt it was important to register. She noticed the booths over the past weeks and appreciated the ease of registration on campus.\n"I've been following politics for the last two or three years, and so I think (voting) is an important thing that everybody should do if they're fairly knowledgeable and well-educated," Dugdale said. "I think it's great that these groups are doing this." \n-- Contact staff writer Lori Snow at losnow@indiana.edu.