Students flocked to various voter registration areas on campus Thursday evening to prepare for the upcoming election season, which includes the East Lansing City Council election.

“Our primary focus is on the City Council election because it’s first,” said Jill Clark, coordinator for YouVote and social relations and policy senior.

Their Web site, youvote.msu.edu is an MSU-run site where students can gather information on political candidates, issues, voter registration and absentee ballots.

“Student populations are characterized as apathetic and apathy is disenfranchisement on a couple of levels,” Clark said. “When you make things complicated you’ve alienated the population.”

For many students, registering may be the first time they are actively involved in the political process.

“I can’t wait for the presidential campaign,” said interdisciplinary studies in social science and health studies senior, Radhika Bhavsar, who registered to vote in Snyder-Phillips Hall.

Bhavsar became a U.S. citizen after turning 18 years old, and after the passing of Prop. 2 last year she wants to be able to have a voice in political issues.P rop. 2, which passed last year, bans race-and gender-based preferences in university admission, state hiring and state contracting.

“Honestly, I’m a senior and taking one political science class. I have no idea about anything political. But (because of) Proposal 2, I just want to vote now,” she said.

Less than 50 percent of young people voted in the 2004 election, said Sujatha Jahagirdar, project director for the New Voter’s Project, the largest national non-profit, non-partisan youth voter mobilization effort.

“Our goal is to increase the number of young people participating in the political process,” Jahagirdar said.

The project released a report earlier this month showing that in a survey of college-age registered voters, youth voter turnout increased by 4 percent when text messages reminding them to vote.

“Text messaging is just another tool to encourage them to show up,” Jahagirdar said. “An enormous part of the problem is politicians don’t pay attention to young people. Presidential candidates don’t talk to students about issues they care about.”

The group is working to reverse that trend, Jahagirdar said.

“We’re trying to change that and get candidates to talk to students about global warming, college affordability and health care,” Jahagirdar said. “Things students care about.”