Coalition still active as election nears

Although Pennsylvania’s Oct. 4 voter registration deadline has passed, Pitt student groups and… Although Pennsylvania’s Oct. 4 voter registration deadline has passed, Pitt student groups and outside organizations are still working to encourage local undergraduates to get out and vote in the upcoming election.

About 25 student groups are working under the Student Vote Coalition, an organization operating under Pitt’s Student Government Board, with the goal of engaging more students in the civic process before Election Day on Nov. 2.

John Hasley, a Pitt junior, coordinator for the Student Vote Coalition and SGB member, said that while many of the groups participating in the coalition have political leanings — such as the College Republicans and Democrats — the group is “overall a non-partisan organization that is just interested in getting students to vote.”

Miller Nuttle, a representative from the national organization ReEnergize the Vote, said that his group is working in conjunction with the Student Vote Coalition to have people sign pledge cards, which are reminder postcards mailed to registered voters just before Election Day.

“I think it’s going to be effective. They’ve done research, and pledge cards can increase peoples’ chances of voting by 5 percent,” Nuttle said.

Nuttle also said that another strategy is phone banking — or calling registered voters to remind them to vote.

“With phone calls and pledge cards, we are noticeably increasing the likelihood that people will vote,” Nuttle said.

Hasley said the Student Vote Coalition is planning another less-orthodox method of getting people to vote, called “Trick or Vote.”

Trick or Vote, which was initially devised by the ReEnergize group, has canvassers dressing up in costumes and knocking on doors to remind people to vote.

The Trick or Vote will happen on Friday, Oct. 29, Hasley said.

In addition to these efforts leading up to Nov. 2, activists on campus are planning some special tactics for Election Day. These include bringing people warm beverages while they are in line and notifying people about polling locations, Nuttle said.

ReEnergize hopes to get 6,000 Pitt Students to vote on Election Day.

That estimate might be a bit optimistic. Statistics from last year’s November elections show that 3,610 people were registered in Oakland’s Ward 4 District 8, which encompasses much of campus, at the time of the election. Only 84 people voted.

Nuttle said that he has “high hopes” for turnout on Election Day, and that “there is a narrative in the media that young people are dropping out of the election, but from what I’ve heard from students I’ve talked to, that’s just not the case.”

In an interview earlier this month, Alexa Jennings, one of the organizers behind the Student Vote Coalition and Student Civic Engagement Month, said the groups’ efforts registered about 2,700 people before the October deadline — nearly three times their original goal.

Hasley also said that aside from Presidential election years, “this is one of the best registration totals in recent history at Pitt.”

Students interested in joining the Student Vote Coalition can attend a meeting at 527 WPU at 9:30 p.m. today.