USSA trains young activists

When freshman Bryan Shelly was asked to register to vote, he responded with, “No, I don’t… When freshman Bryan Shelly was asked to register to vote, he responded with, “No, I don’t even care.”

“Do you know your tuition went up?” asked La’Tasha Mayes, a Student Government Board member and the National Women of Color Caucus chair of the United States Students Association.

Shelly is now awaiting his Allegheny County voter identification card, which should be arriving in the mail in about two weeks.

The new focus on registering voters is part of a program that USSA held Friday and Saturday in the Cathedral of Learning. Students who attended the training learned new techniques to convince other Pitt students to register to vote in Allegheny County.

The program, known as the Electoral Action Training, teaches individuals how to effectively organize a campaign and put it into action, according to Andrea DeChellis, a senior SGB member and the Atlantic Regional Chair of USSA, who was largely responsible for coordinating the event.

DeChellis said the training has been known to “dramatically increase voter turn-out.” She added that voter turnout at Pitt is rather low, especially in the Litchfield Towers.

Their specific goal is to not only get 3,000 Pitt students registered to vote before Oct. 7, the last day to register, but to actually get them out to the polls, according to Mayes. Mayes, personally, plans “not only on meeting, but exceeding the goal.”

Two facilitators from USSA taught the training. One of the facilitators, Shaba Andrich, said that if 6,000 students are registered to vote, about 1,500 students could be expected to actually vote.

Andrich, the election project coordinator from USSA, gave tips on effectively registering people to vote. Andrich said that “door-knocking,” the process of going door-to-door to fill out registration cards, is the most effective method to influence voters to vote, but is also the most time consuming, with eight to 10 people registering per hour.

Tabling, the process of setting up a table in front of a building, attracts about 12 to 15 people an hour, he said.

At about 5 p.m., the program participants decided to try out their tactics by going door-knocking in Tower C. Mayes reported her group of four people only got four students to register on the third floor, saying that most people were not in their rooms. Others were registered to vote elsewhere and did not want to register in Allegheny County.

Afterward, the groups returned from their assigned floor and congregated in the lobby, where they were more successful by stopping students approaching the elevators.

SGB promoted the training through student activities groups, but individuals were welcome to join, according to junior Adelaina Acosta, the National Queer Students Coalition vice chair of USSA.

DeChellis said SGB “tried to bring in as many diverse people as possible.” Mayes said that over 40 people from various student activities such as Black Action Society, Rainbow Alliance and SGB, attended the training program.

Mayes said the training was nonpartisan. She added that they don’t want to tell people “how to vote,” but rather to “give them their options.”