The University of Cincinnati campus was crowded with volunteers urging students to register to vote in the upcoming election, Tuesday, Sept. 30.
Various groups were stationed around campus asking the usual, “Are you registered to vote?” and “At your current address?” questions. Some stopped to hear what they had to say, while, others replied with a simple, “yes” and continued moving onto their original destination. Each organization had their own personal views on the upcoming election while others simply just wanted the youngest population eligible to vote to register.
Kathleen Cogan, 26, is currently working in partnership with a student run organization called It’s Your Call. It’s Your Call is a completely nonpartisan organization who are working with students to give other young adults the chance to have their voices heard.
“I think that students have a big say,” Cogan said. “Over the past three elections a lot of students have turned up in huge numbers. We just want to make sure people are registered so they can vote.”
Other local campaigns such Moveon.org are in support of Barack Obama. Kevin L., 23, 4th year history major, is a registered voter working with moveon.org.
“I’m working for moveon.org which is in support of Obama, but not paid for by his party,” Kevin L. said. “We are just trying to get the youth to register to vote so they can have their voice heard.”
A nationwide organization that has been in the frontlines of the youth movement is MTV’s Rock The Vote campaign. Rock The Vote was founded in 1992 in “response to a wave of attacks on freedom of speech and artistic expression.” With the backing of the mainstream media, the campaign has been a huge success. Stars such as Sean “Diddy” Combs and Snoop Dogg have gone out to help encourage young adults register to vote and have their voice heard.
Celebrities aren’t the only people in charge of the Rock The Vote. A number of adults have taken to the Internet to vent their feelings on the issues pertaining to society today. Blogs have become a personal extension to have your opinions heard. Through the Rock The Vote website, they have set up blogs for young adults to post their thoughts on the campaign trail.
Nick Brown is one of the bloggers telling his story on blog.rockthevote.com.
“The ‘youth vote’ gets disparaged pretty regularly, and it’s true that we haven’t turned out as much as we maybe should have in the past,” he wrote in his blog. “But you have to remember that the campaigns themselves wouldn’t exist without the fiendishly devoted young people who act as their shock troops. For every apathetic kid who claims that his vote just doesn’t matter, there is a half-crazed activist fighting against the injustices of the world. “
Cogan also agrees that the youth have a strong input. “We know that students want to volunteer,” she said. “It’s all peer to peer based. Right now we are trying to get as many volunteers as possible today to help with registering people this last week before deadline.”
This year the Rock The Vote campaign is looking to sign up two million new voters. As of Oct. 2 they have 1,870,988 new young adults registered for this year’s election.
Voter registration concludes on Oct. 6 nationwide.
(Image: An It's Your Call volunteer urges a UC student to register to vote.)
Kathleen Cogan, 26, is currently working in partnership with a student run organization called It’s Your Call. It’s Your Call is a completely nonpartisan organization who are working with students to give other young adults the chance to have their voices heard.
“I think that students have a big say,” Cogan said. “Over the past three elections a lot of students have turned up in huge numbers. We just want to make sure people are registered so they can vote.”
Other local campaigns such Moveon.org are in support of Barack Obama. Kevin L., 23, 4th year history major, is a registered voter working with moveon.org.
“I’m working for moveon.org which is in support of Obama, but not paid for by his party,” Kevin L. said. “We are just trying to get the youth to register to vote so they can have their voice heard.”
A nationwide organization that has been in the frontlines of the youth movement is MTV’s Rock The Vote campaign. Rock The Vote was founded in 1992 in “response to a wave of attacks on freedom of speech and artistic expression.” With the backing of the mainstream media, the campaign has been a huge success. Stars such as Sean “Diddy” Combs and Snoop Dogg have gone out to help encourage young adults register to vote and have their voice heard.
Celebrities aren’t the only people in charge of the Rock The Vote. A number of adults have taken to the Internet to vent their feelings on the issues pertaining to society today. Blogs have become a personal extension to have your opinions heard. Through the Rock The Vote website, they have set up blogs for young adults to post their thoughts on the campaign trail.
Nick Brown is one of the bloggers telling his story on blog.rockthevote.com.
“The ‘youth vote’ gets disparaged pretty regularly, and it’s true that we haven’t turned out as much as we maybe should have in the past,” he wrote in his blog. “But you have to remember that the campaigns themselves wouldn’t exist without the fiendishly devoted young people who act as their shock troops. For every apathetic kid who claims that his vote just doesn’t matter, there is a half-crazed activist fighting against the injustices of the world. “
Cogan also agrees that the youth have a strong input. “We know that students want to volunteer,” she said. “It’s all peer to peer based. Right now we are trying to get as many volunteers as possible today to help with registering people this last week before deadline.”
This year the Rock The Vote campaign is looking to sign up two million new voters. As of Oct. 2 they have 1,870,988 new young adults registered for this year’s election.
Voter registration concludes on Oct. 6 nationwide.
(Image: An It's Your Call volunteer urges a UC student to register to vote.)
No comments:
Post a Comment