Sunday afternoon on Bruin Walk is a stark contrast to the normally bustling environment of students rushing to class or campus groups handing out promotional fliers.
But Garo Manjikian, a graduate of UC Riverside and current CALPIRG campus organizer for UC Santa Barbara, was there to approach the few people walking by.
“Hello, have you registered to vote?” Manjikian asked a passing student.
Voter registration volunteers will be on campus today from 10 am. to 1 p.m. to give one last push to register students, as today is the deadline to turn in registration forms to vote for the Nov. 7 elections.
Registration forms can no longer be sent to the L.A. County Registrar’s office by mail, so volunteers will take the registration forms they gather directly to the office to make the 5 p.m. deadline today.
Students must reregister if they want to vote from the UCLA campus. Otherwise, if the student is already registered, he or she would vote by absentee ballot.
Volunteers from CALPIRG said it is important for students to register to vote so politicians will know they have to consider their needs as students.
“If we have 5,000 students in one district, a congressman will have to listen to us. ... We are more powerful than if we were spread out all over,” said Lauren Macheski, a director in the Undergraduate Students Association Council’s external vice president office.
Macheski said there are many issues in the upcoming elections that will affect students, including fee increases, financial aid and electing officials who can decide who is on the UC Board of Regents.
“Who we elect in November will determine the UC Regents, and they have the ability to enact policy affecting the diversity of the university,” Macheski said.
Both gubernatorial front-runners have also made UC-related issues a priority in their campaigns. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and State Treasurer Phil Angelides have both promised to cut college fees.
On Nov. 7, there will be polling areas for students to vote in the De Neve, Hedrick and Rieber residential halls.
Macheski said the USAC external vice president’s office has partnered with many on-campus student groups and the Office of Residential Life over the past few weeks to encourage students all over campus to register to vote.
Over the past week, volunteers from CALPIRG working with USAC advertised on Bruin Walk, campaigned all over campus, announced voting registration in classes and went dorm-storming (door-to-door solicitation in the dorms).
“Our volunteers who went dorm-storming had a lot of fun and received positive feedback from residents,” Tung said.
As of last Thursday, the USAC office of the EVP reported that CALPIRG registered between 300 and 400 students and the overall voter coalition registered 1200 students.