Project preaching value of voting

With the election less than three weeks away, student groups on campus are working harder than ever to educate voters and get them to the polls Nov. 2.\nCampus groups involved in the New Voters Project, a national movement to get young voters between the ages of 18 and 24 to make their voices heard in politics, registered more than 3,500 new voters at IU before the Oct. 10 deadline for Indiana voter registration. This well-surpassed the goal of 3,200 new voters, said senior Vanessa Caruso, the New Voters Project campaign coordinator for INPIRG and an employee of the Indiana Daily Student.\n"It was a huge success," Caruso said. "We did a really good job of covering the campus. By the last day, it was hard to find people that weren't registered to vote, so that was a good sign."\nBut their work isn't finished. In the 2000 election, 36 percent of young people registered to vote, but only 16 percent showed up at the polls, said New Voters Project coordinator senior Daniel Cappy. The New Voters Project is trying to change that.\n"Registering voters is very important for lobbying purposes," Cappy said. "But it's also important to get people to the polls."\nStudent groups will try to accomplish that and inform voters about the candidates within the next few weeks by holding a debate between the IU College Democrats, IU College Republicans and IU Libertarians, holding a phone bank to call new registered voters, and spreading the word around campus about when and where to vote.\nThe Black Student Union will present the debate Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.\nVice-President of the BSU Duane Ingram said each group of representatives will give a 15-minute presentation of their presidential candidate's platform. The executive board of the BSC will then ask questions to the representatives and finish by letting the audience ask questions.\nIngram said the BSU is holding the debate to inform students they should care about the election.\n"There's a lot of people who have blasé feelings toward voting and think that their vote won't make a difference," Ingram said. "We want to make sure they know that their vote counts."\nBloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan is also scheduled to make a special presentation at the debate.\nThe New Voters Project's phone bank will start the week before the election. Students will call new registered voters to remind them to vote and to answer any questions they have about polling places.\n"You might be the most educated person on campus, but if you don't know where or when to go vote, then that does you no good," Cappy said.\nCappy also said he and other students will spread the word Nov. 2 reminding students to vote.\n"I'll be on campus ushering people to the polling places, telling them, 'Today's the day to vote, did you know that? Go be heard. Go vote,'" Cappy said.\nUntil then, Caruso and Cappy said they are stressing the importance of educating students about the candidates, both national and local.\n"If you're just going to vote how your friends or your parents vote, then it's just kind of silly," Caruso said. "Read the newspaper, get all kinds of sources. Don't just have somebody spoon-feed you information. Get out there and find out really what the candidates are saying so you're informed on election day."\nStudents who are interested in helping out with the phone bank can attend a training session Wednesday or Thursday at 8 p.m. in Ballantine Hall room 146 or e-mail Katie Waters at kewaters@indiana.edu.\nFor more information on national, state and regional elections, visit www.vote-smart.org or www.co.monroe.in.us for information on local elections and polling places.\n-- Contact staff writer Lori Snow at losnow@indiana.edu.