Campus organization helps students register to vote locally

Groups aim to get freshmen ready for upcoming election

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Tweet With the Nov. 7 elections approaching, Hubbard Hall's Black Caucus registered voters from 4-8 p.m. Sunday.

Students were asked to register to vote in Ingham County even if they lived in other parts of the state so they would be eligible to vote on Election Day.

"We thought it would be a good idea to register people before the deadline because Hubbard is heavily populated by freshmen and first-time voters," Taylor Lewis, Hubbard Hall's Black Caucus president said.

"A lot of freshmen don't have cars, so they don't have the means to get to their hometown to vote."

Agribusiness management freshmen Jonathan Rosewood said he decided to register to vote in Ingham County through the Black Caucus event.

"I've been registered since I was 18," Rosewood said. "But I need to register up here, so I don't miss out on my voting rights."

A projection screen in the room where Black Caucus registered voters showed several slides explaining the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, or MCRI, an anti-affirmative action proposal.

Rosewood said he wants to participate in the upcoming election because of the MCRI.

Other organizations, such as the MSU College Democrats and the MSU College Republicans, have been registering voters for weeks and are continuing to register students until Tuesday's deadline.

MSU College Republicans registered voters in residence hall cafeterias and at their events.

If students asked about the election, the group would explain the gubernatorial and Senate elections as well as ballot proposals, said Jeff Wiggins, MSU College Republicans chairman and history senior.

"If they agreed with our stance (on a proposal), we continued to talk to them," Wiggins said.

"If they didn't, then we had no problem directing them to where they could find information about the issue."

The MSU College Democrats knocked on doors in the residence halls at the beginning of the year and have registered just less than 1,000 voters, said Karissa Chabot, president of the MSU College Democrats and political theory and constitutional democracy senior.

"We hardly have to tell (students) why it's important to vote," Chabot said.

"They've seen the ads and debates, and they pretty much know what the candidates have to say. All we have to pretty much do is get them motivated to register."

Staff writer Justin Kroll contributed to this report.

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