5 i " 6B - The Michigan Daily - Election Guide 2004 - Thursday, October 28, 2004 Students rev up campaign as election nears The Michigan Daily - Election Guid hat the most important isLLEGE UNDE RGi By Andrew Kaplan Daily News Editor An unusually balmy October day in Ann Arbor yesterday begged dozens of students to study outside, while teams of student activists - who stopped registering student voters after the Oct. 4 deadline - found new life to their causes by making sure the students who are registered actually hit the polls. A host of organizations pitched camp in the middle of campus to spread information on how to vote and solicit students' votes ' for specific candidates and - issues, covering a range of political stripes. After registering more than 10,000 new vot- ers - about 2,500 more than it recruited during the 2000 presidential elec- tion - members of the Michigan Student Assembly's nonpartisan Voice Your Vote initiative have increased their presence on the Diag over the past two weeks. It's a mission that goes beyond hand- ing out quarter-sheets and catching stu- dents as they breeze through the Diag on their way to class, although group members continue to use these tac- tics. Voice Your Vote yesterday set up a mock "beer pong" table, with cups of root beer and ping-pong balls embla- zoned with the group's logo and Internet address, "MGoVote.com," which stu- dents can visit to find out their polling locations and requirements for voting at Ann Arbor polls. Members have also received Univer- sity permission to send a campus-wide e-mail encouraging students to vote. The Division of Student Affairs has also allowed the group to hang one of its banners on the outer walls of the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library, and members have been trading shifts on the phones to contact students in residence halls. "Everyone says the main reason peo- ple our age don't vote is because they . forget," said Aaron Holman, Voice Your Vote member and LSA senior. "(On) this campus, it's in your face all the time and people still won't vote." "There's been a big con- cern about it," said LSA senior Mike Forster, co- chair of Voice Your Vote and member of the Public Interest Research Group in Michigan, which said it registered 600 voters before the deadline. Michael Anderson, an LSA sopho- more with the College Democrats, offered similar remarks. Manning a table a few yards from Voice Your Vote members, Anderson distributing fly- ers, buttons and stickers in support of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. "This is really just to (target) people who are registered to vote, but aren't planning to do it," Anderson said, eye- ing passers-by and reaching to hand them Kerry bumper stickers. He added that his organization was trying to "maximize voter turnout" and doing "anything to increase (their) visibility." "Visibility" would be a soft choice of words to describe any group on the heart of Central Campus yesterday. Voice Your Vote members blasted music to attract students to their table on the center of the Diag. A member of the Stonewall Democrats - the LGBTQ arm of the College Democrats - donned a sandwich sign that urged students to vote "no" on Proposal 2. The proposition would amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage in Michigan and possibly deprive same- sex couples of the financial and legal benefits that come with civil unions. These students' engagement with politics has put them in touch with media and politicians across the nation. LATimes.com, the online version of the Los Angeles Times, ran a story on Voice Your Vote on Oct. 10. The College Democrats and s Republicans have joined with state-level party officials to spread the word about their respective candi- dates, with both groups scouring for votes door-to-door and making scores of phone calls to prospective voters. Finally, the Coalition for a Fair Michi- gan -the principal organization lobby- ing against Proposal 2 - has recruited the Stonewall Democrats to assist in its campaign. Overall, students' intensity bolsters the observations of many pollsters who say that college-age persons are show- Political events on campus Voice Your Vote will hold a training session for students who want to be poll monitors tonight at 7 p.m. in the Michigan Student Assembly chambers on the third floor of the Michigan Union. College Democrats will host a "Tailgate for Kerry" with Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Saturday at noon at Elbel Field. College Republicans will hold a rally in the Union Ballroom on Sat- urday at 11 a.m. Must RSVP to aajacobs@umich.edu to attend. Don't Know 2% Other 2% Taxes 2% Health car I Education- ing a greater interest in politics than in years past. According to a Sept. 30 survey by the Washington-based research group The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, "The percentage of young people who say they are registered to vote ... has increased significant- ly since 2000 - from 47 (percent) to 58 (percent). The number who are reg- istered is at the 1992 level (60 percent)." And activists are still look- ing to draw more students into the political process. Voice Your Vote members say they will return to the Diag every day until the election, in order to ensure that students who signed up to vote actually head to the polls on Election Day. The College Democrats, who said they will also show up every day until the election, will target homes across the Ann Arbor area in their door-knock- ing campaign, and will also seek to gar- ner some last minute Kerry votes on Election Day by engaging voters as they head to the polls. The College Republicans, who regis- tered a few hundred students on campus compared to the thousand or so signa- tures collected by the Democrats, will visit communities in the metro Detroit area, such as those in Oakland County. "While we'd love to get (University students) out and vote and we encour- age kids to go, our resources are better used off campus where there are more Republican voters," said LSA sopho- more Allison Jacobs, chair of the Col- lege Republicans. Jacobs added that the door-knock- ing campaign is part of a "96-hour plan" with the state Republican Party and other College Republican organi- zations, which will continue today and run through Tuesday. The effort also includes phoning residents and driving voters to the polls. Jacobs said the College Republicans will be on the Diag today, tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday. || Situation in Iraq Other- Education--.. I NATIONAL VO Health care- fir:;., [ Washtenaw County Vote in 2000 Al Gore 86,647 59.8% George W. Bush 52,459 36.2% Economy', NOSFERATU .sr .4, - - --- -- - - ---- --- - - --- ---- --- - z STUDENT DISCOUNT! MOVIES ONLY F "$6.75 w//. D. F.W. MURNAU'S 1922 HORROR CLASSIC WITH LIVE ACCOMPANIMENT BY STEVEN BALL ON THE BARTON ORGAN. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30TH,9:30PM .....!" ............................. i.... ........... __________________________________ _ $8.50 GENERAL ADMISSION $6.75 STUDENTS, SENIORS & VETERANS * I H ~ *$5.50 MICHIGAN THEATER MEMBERS (734)668-TIME OR VISIT US ON THE WEB 603 E. LIBERTY ST. *.*.* DOWNTOWN ANN ARBOR WWW.MICNTHEATER.ORG Feb.3, 2004 March 9,2004 March 25,2004 Aug.30 - Sept. 2,2004 I Mini-Tuesday: Kerry wins primaries in Arizona, Delaware and Missouri, and caucuses in New Mexico and North Dakota. Edwards won the South Carolina primary Bush garners the number of delegates needed to officially become the Republican candidate for the presidency. Having dropped out of the race, Dean endorses Kerry for president Republican National Conventio New York- City. r I ------ -1 March 3,2004 Edwards drops out oftthe race for the presidency and endorses Kerry 1LW March 11,2004 Kerry clinches the number of delegates I Ir i ------------------ - I k July 6,2004 Kerry selects Edwards as his running mate. July 26-29, 2004 Sept.30,200 First presienta debate airs. March 2,2004 Super'Tuesday: Johbi Kerry wins nine (if 1.0 caucuses or primaries today, advancing toward his nomination for the presidency. necessary town the Democratc nomination for the presidency: 2,162. 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