Voter
registration increases among CSUs
By Jessica Perez
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
After joint efforts by 22 California State University campuses to encourage their
students to vote in the Nov. 8 special election, 5,000 students statewide registered
this year.
The newly registered students are in addition to last year’s 24,000 CSU
students who registered during the presidential election. Cal State Long Beach
registered 120 students this year and about 1,400 in 2004.
According to reports from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning
and Engagement, college students and those with a bachelor’s degree are
consistently among the least active voting groups in the country.
But the increasing number of students registering to vote demonstrates a new
interest in political involvement.
Construction engineering major Daniel Contreras believes there is a voice behind
his vote.
“
Our vote counts because ballot measures affect us especially when it relates
to higher education,” he said.
Student body leaders statewide were trained on registration procedures, voter
registration education and voter turn-out strategies provided by the California
State Student Association (CSSA), the organization that represents the interests
of students in the CSU system.
“
When we train student body leaders we go beyond registration,” said Laura
Kerr, director of Government Relations for the CSSA. “We educate them so
they can go back to their campuses and help others understand the importance
of voting.”
The CSSA conducts two voter registration training sessions annually in both Southern
and Northern California regions.
This year Secretary of State Bruce McPherson and the national non-partisan voter
registration organization, the New Voters
Project, were among the collaborators.
The organization also emphasizes the importance of gaining support from university
faculty and administrators to institutionalize voter registration drives on campus.
By working together, student leaders and administrators have found creative ways
to mobilize students to get them to the polls.
“
This is a system-wide effort to encourage more students to get involved,” said
Zahra Billoo, secretary for Systemwide Affairs for Associated Students Inc. at
CSULB. “We focus on student voter registration because if students don’t
vote, legislators don’t care.”
Although student voter registration has always been a priority for the CSSA,
more CSUs have witnessed a push to get the vote out in the past three years because
of better resources. By providing legislative campus visits, “Rock the
Vote” campaigns, classroom presentations and voter guides, many campuses
have raised numbers to unexpected amounts.
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo was one campus that pulled in high numbers, with 600
new registered students while Cal State Sacramento managed to get 500 students
to register to vote before the special elections. Among the campuses with the
smallest voter registration turn out were Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Sate
Fresno.
“
It’s a positive sign that students are increasingly seeing the influence
their political involvement has on higher education,” Billoo said. “We
still have additional strides to make a significant change.”
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