CU student groups strive for civic engagement in face of national election
The 2008 presidential election is rapidly approaching, bringing with it a whirlwind of campus activities to engage students in the political process. From voter registration and renowned political speakers to political open mic night and an early voting center at the Rec Center, student groups are working to involve CU’s student body in politics.
“UCSU wants CU’s student body to be civically engaged,” USCU Tri-executive Dustin Farivar, a junior political science major, said.
UCSU is committed to register 5,000 new voters before the Oct. 6 voter registration deadline. UCSU has created a coalition of multiple groups on campus to register voters to make sure they are not competing against each other.
Senior political science major and head of the College Democrats Jesse Jensen, is also involved with registering voters, which is the group’s main objective this time of year. Jensen said most students he talks to are already registered because of the energy created by the Obama campaign.
“We are willing to put aside our partisan nature to register voters,” Jensen said.
President of the Panhellenic Association and Tri-executive Victoria Garcia, said sororities generally allow student groups to register voters in their chapter houses. Both UCSU and the Panhellenic Association do not support a specific candidate as the College Democrats do.
The most important activity for the College Democrats in the next month will shift from voter registration to promoting early on-campus voting at the Rec Center. UCSU worked with the Boulder County Clerk and Recorder Office and the Rec Center to get the early voting center up and running.
Early voting will take place the last two weeks of October in the conference rooms of the Rec Center.
Early polling locations two weeks prior to the 2008 election are also available in the Boulder Court House and the Boulder County Clerk and Recorder’s office.
Jensen said he believes more students will vote if they can avoid long voting lines at off-campus locations. Jensen said it can be hard for students to vote with heavy class loads and full schedules, but with the on-campus early voting, no students will have an excuse to stay away from the polls.
The College Democrats work to hold many events all year long promoting the Democratic Party. In the past they have hosted renowned speakers such as Howard Dean and Hillary Clinton as well as Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives Andrew Romanoff and Democratic nominee for Congress Jared Polis. The College Democrats also plan to host Gov. Ritter as a speaker in the coming year to encourage political involvement by students.
UCSU is also planning to bolster student interest in politics by hosting a political open mic night out by the UMC fountain later in the semester. This will be a forum for students to voice their political opinions. UCSU will also host a ballot initiatives fair that will educate students about the issues they will see at the polls Nov. 4. Program Council will also host a debate watching party in CHEM 140 on Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m.
The youth vote has been an elusive group every campaign has tried to target for years, with mixed results.
“I believe there are definitely some students who are apathetic about the election because they feel their vote will not make a difference, or they feel no matter what they do, someone will continue to do the job,” Garcia said. “On the other hand, I believe there are a number of students who are actively engaged who help spread the word about importance of the election.”
Farivar said new opportunities to get involved in politics are partly why he sees this improvement. He credits recent technological advances such as YouTube for making it easier to be involved and getting more students excited about the election.
“Nationally we’re at a place where were ready for what’s next,” Farivar said. “We’re ready and waiting for something different.”
Farivar said this anticipation and excitement of the unknown and of what’s next is also fueling the young voter excitement in this next election.
Jensen has a different idea for why young voters seem more excited.
“Obama transcended apathy because of his rhetoric,” Jensen said. “He speaks outside of the Democratic Party. As Obama said there is no red America, no blue America just the United States of America. People are drawn to this.”
College Republicans were not available for comment on this piece.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Jimy Valenti at James.Valenti@Colorado.edu.
