The MSU College Democrats will be storming the dorms until 8 p.m. today encouraging locally-registered students to vote in East Lansing’s City Council elections, while the MSU College Republicans encouraged students to attend the ASMSU-sponsored East Lansing City Council Forum on Oct. 22.
“Dorm storms are important to get students out to the polls,” said Scott Hendrickson, College Democrats president.
“We will even have people in cars to shuttle them from the dorms to off-campus locations to vote.”
Hendrickson said if students live in West Circle, their closest location to vote is The Peoples Church, 200 W. Grand River Ave., across the street, but they will still transport them across West Grand River Avenue.
However, the College Republicans are focusing more on bringing presidential hopefuls to MSU’s campus, said Ben Morlock, the organization’s chairman.
Mitt Romney visited tailgating events before Saturday’s MSU football game, and U.S. Sen. John McCain will speak at 4 p.m. Thursday in the Lincoln Room of the Kellogg Center for a select group of students.
“Their wanting to come here speaks volumes about the importance of the state of Michigan,” Morlock said. “We are humbled they are focusing their attention on MSU and how important MSU is to the state of Michigan.”
College Republicans Vice Chairman Leo Madarang said the organization does not endorse any one specific candidate, but gaining as much knowledge as possible benefits students — even if someone is in favor of a specific candidate.
When it comes to the local City Council election, the College Democrats endorsed Nathan Triplett, a former MSU College Democrat who is running for City Council.
This is one of the reasons they encourage students to register to vote locally.
“Students are here more months out of the year,” said Emily Castle, MSU College Democrats director of membership. “It makes sense to vote here, as we have more say in East Lansing politics.”
Issues such as the Capital Area Transportation Authority Millage Proposition directly impact students because of how many people use it, Hendrickson said.
“It’s a question of how much we value the CATA system,” he said. “Many on- and off-campus students take it every day to get to class. This an example of why voting locally is important.”
Morlock said although many students won’t think this election compares to a presidential election, he wants them to realize the local level is where college organizations can have the most impact.
“As a (College Republican) group, we can have an impact to get Republicans elected,” he said. “Don’t lose sight of those elections.”
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