Campus organizations and city representatives are giving students a chance to exercise their voices in a voter registration drive from 5-7 p.m. today.
Volunteers from YouVote, ASMSU and other student groups, will provide voter information and registration forms in Shaw, Akers, Brody, Wilson and Snyder-Phillips halls. YouVote is a committee whose goal is to encourage students to vote.
“We want students to be informed and encourage them to exercise their voice in how the nation should be governed,” said Lee N. June, vice president of Student Affairs and Services.
Volunteers will be at the locations to answer any questions about the voting process, said Jill Clark, a social relations policy senior and YouVote coordinator.
“Students make up a big percentage of the population in the city, and the city has a big impact on students,” Clark said.
East Lansing City Clerk Sharon Reid has trained John Dowell’s Public Life in America class how to instruct students to fill out registration forms.
Dowell, who is among the founders of YouVote, said his fall semester class participates in YouVote activities every year.
Choosing not to participate in elections is unacceptable, Dowell said.
If students register at the drive, they are eligible to vote for the East Lansing City Council candidates on Nov. 6, Reid said. In order to vote in November’s election, students must register by Oct. 9.
“It’s terrific that the university takes a proactive approach in helping students become civically engaged,” Reid said. “Democracy depends upon citizen participation.”
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