In hopes of convincing the California state legislature to adopt same-day voter registration, CalVote, a Web site launched by the student public interest group CalPIRG, plans to compile by January 2004 a report of case studies submitted by students that were unable to vote in the Oct. 7 election due to the conflicting dates of move-in day and the registration deadline.
Because the registration deadline date coincides with move-in week, CalPIRG co-chair Matt Reents claims students were too busy to change their address or forgot to re-register for their absentee ballot.
“”Even before CalVote was launched, we had already found a number of students who wanted to submit stories of their inability to vote because move-in day was the same day the deadline for voter registration was,”” Reents said. “”Many students considered moving into their dorms at the top of their priorities; there were too many distractions.””
In recognizing same-day voter registration, CalPIRG hopes to increase the number of students who participate in California’s political process by increasing the student-voter turnout.
“”The idea behind same-day registration is to permit the student to know what each candidate’s campaign is, hopefully encouraging them to vote,”” Reents said. “”Many students don’t even know about each candidate’s campaign. They don’t educate themselves prior to a few weeks before the election, and many candidates’ platforms don’t get out until after the voter registration deadline.””
Some students believe their ignorance of the political platforms deterred them from the voting booths, but the alternative of the absentee ballot provides no excuse for not registering.
“”I didn’t vote primarily because not knowing each of the candidates’ policies prevented me from having a definite stand,”” Thurgood Marshall College sophomore Maiu Fukui said. “”I would have voted if I was more aware of the issues.
“”However, when people say, ŒI didn’t know about re-registering for the absentee ballots,’ that’s just not a valid excuse; they should have known,”” Fukui said. “”America should not have to accommodate the students of UCSD.””
Earl Warren College senior Arthur Mong was able to vote by submitting his absentee ballot. He believes that same-day voter registration would not make a difference in the student-voter turnout.
“”The people who really intended to vote would already be registered prior to the deadline,”” Mong said. “”People who say they didn’t vote because they didn’t know about the absentee ballot are illogical since you are told about [the absentee ballot] weeks before the deadline.””
Warren freshman Divya Thapar was unable to vote because she did not receive her absentee ballot in the mail, though she has been registered to vote since August. By Oct. 7, Thapar still had not received her absentee ballot.
“”I wanted to vote, but I couldn’t,”” Thapar said. “”The October election was just complicated. I believe some people were misled to think they had more time to register than they actually did. Because the original court ruling said that the election would be postponed indefinitely, students thought they had more time to register. But the court decision was overturned and the election was recommenced for the planned date.””
CalPIRG hopes to expand on a pilot program in Alameda County, which examined same-day voter registration all across the state.
“”There is not a lot of negative feedback against the security issue of same-day voter registration, but [others] worry about the possible influence voters will receive prior to the ballot box, but this has not happened in any of the pilot programs,”” Reents said.
“”College students are considered the most political and activist age bracket, yet we only account for 7 percent because many students are turned away from the voting process,”” Reents said. “”Same-day voter registration will hopefully bring these numbers up.””