Students celebrated Tuesday afternoon in the Park Blocks as student government reached its goal of 3,500 newly registered student voters.
Wearing a large “Voting is for Lovers" button, Johnnie Ozimkowski of Associated Students of Portland State University (ASPSU) said he was thrilled with how the registration drive had turned out. “We broke our goal as of noon and they just keep coming in," he said.
Tuesday was the final day for Oregonians to register.
The Oregon Student Association (OSA) had reached its own goal the day before: 18,000 newly registered student voters statewide.
”The more voices we have at the polls, the more power we’ll have for student issues," said Courtney Sproule, the OSA’s media coordinator. “Students are paying more and getting less – our higher education system is in budget crisis. Now is the time, if ever, to have a vote and say what we want."
Jeff Woodward of OSPIRG, who was registering voters Tuesday between Smith Memorial Student Union and Neuberger Hall, agreed.
”We want politicians to pay attention to [student voters]," he said. “And they pay attention to people that vote."
The OSA has been working with OSPIRG’s New Voters’ Project as well as the Bus Project’s “Building Blocks, Building Votes," and the Oregon Community College Student Association to reach the 18,000 voter registration goal.
Now that the deadline for registration is past, the voter activists are turning their energy to other facets of the election: voter education and get-out-the-vote.
ASPSU, with the help of interns and students from the Civic Engagement capstone, is planning 140 educational presentations before Election Day, said Patrick Beisell, legislative affairs director for ASPSU.
The planned presentations include debates about Measures 41, 43, 45, 46, 47 and 48 as well as a candidate forum.
The OSA, which provided the text for ASPSU’s “class raps," has also prepared a voters’ guide aimed at the student voter, said Sproule.
”In June the OSA sent a survey to legislative candidates asking them about issues which interest students," she said. Issues surveyed included funding, tuition, need-based aid and ASPIRE, a high school mentoring program designed to bring underrepresented populations to college.
The legislative hopefuls’ replies have been compiled together with information about ballot measures and gubernatorial candidates. Eight of 10 ballot measures will directly affect student populations, Sproule said.
OSPIRG’s newly elected chapter chair, Amanda Fortin, said the final step would be getting students to turn in their ballots. “It’s going to take a lot of dedicated phone banking," she said. “A lot of tabling."
”These things are going to affect students in a crucial and everyday-life sort of way," Sproule said. “On the pocketbook level."
Ozimkowski was optimistic that students were going to affect politics rather than the other way around.
”We always say, ‘If you vote, stuff will happen.’ Well, it’s happening," he said. “It’s a great time to be politically engaged."