SGA promotes the right to vote

October 08, 2008
Peter Nickeas
Staff Writer

Top brass at UIS' Student Government Association have been pleased with recent civic engagement activities, including a voter registration drive that registered over 100 voters last week.

Photo by David Clary Whitley Simmons registers to vote at the SGA voter registration drive table in Lincoln Residence Hall.

Both the president, Ashley Rook, and Vice President Brandon Guiliano were happy with SGA's recent project.

"The [voter regisration drive] project went really well. Our goal was to get as many new voters registered as is possible in one week," Guiliano said, "and I think that our numbers reflect that we met that goal.  Our unstated estimation of success was 75 persons registered, and we exceeded that by 28 in getting 103 persons registered."

Guiliano estimated that about half of the students registered were from the Chicago area and most others local residents. He also estimated an 85 to 15 percent split between new registration and transfer registration.

Deputy registrars were on hand in Lincoln Residence Hall, the Public Affairs Center cafeteria, and Founders Hall to assist those interested in updating their registration information or registering as a new voter.

"We were probably most successful at the cafeteria due to the higher amount of traffic," Guiliano said. "LRH and Founders were too close to call."

Rook noted that this wouldn't be the last of SGA's efforts prior to this year's election, possibly engaging local politicians and partisan political groups on campus to foster discussion.

"We plan to do a series of events and programs closer to the elections, most likely in conjunction with the other campus political groups," Rook said. "I think we’re going to have a very strong focus on voter education and helping incoming students focus on their party affiliation and become educated on important issues in this election."