ASMSU members will start this summer to encourage students to vote in the fall.
The undergraduate student government’s Academic Assembly members set a goal last week to get at least 2,000 students registered to vote in East Lansing.
Organization officials say they hope the rest of the 120 member organization will get involved in the project, which will kick off at the Academic Orientation Program in June.
A campuswide voter registration drive will start about Aug. 26 until the voter registration deadline of Oct. 5. During the 2000 presidential elections, organization members registered more than 500 students.
Jared English, ASMSU’s Academic Assembly director of university, governmental and budgetary affairs, is helping to lead the voter registration drive this year. He decided to make voter registration an initiative because he wants students to have a political voice.
“It helps us gain credibility and influence downtown,” English said.
The organization’s goal is to register student voters, but also educate them about state Legislature and gubernatorial candidates.
“We want to tell students what exactly are the positions of each candidate,” English said.
Jean Golden, East Lansing’s deputy city manager and chief operating officer, said she wants city election officials to work closer with ASMSU on projects such as the voter drive.
In the fall 2001 election, 1.4 percent of the 8,718 registered voters at campus locations, turned out at the seven polls.
“If you register 2,000 people on campus, that would be a huge deal,” Golden said. “I think students are in a transitional phase of their lives. Many students still have many attachments to their hometowns, but they live here. They have a significant investment in what happens here.”
Changes in the election system already have started, she said, including methods of making voting easier for students. To switch an address to East Lansing involves only contacting the Secretary of State office, she said.
“We’re trying to make precincts more accessible to students on and off campus,” she said. “We’re working closely with the university to try and make sure that we make it as easy as possible for students who want to register.”
Joe Mignano, ASMSU Student Assembly external vice chairperson, was involved with the organization’s voter registration drives in the past. He said it’s important for ASMSU to lead a drive every two years when local, state and national elections take place.
Mignano said the project didn’t cost anything in the past, but money could be spent on refreshments and pizza to lure students to register this year.
“We will at least have some money in the special projects account after the rollover,” Mignano said. “But I think if we get people really active in it, you don’t need to spend money.”
Staff writer Chad Previch contributed to this report.
