On Election Day in Boulder, student voter turnout increased by 239% from the last midterm election.
New Voters Project volunteers contacted 4,495 students who pledged to vote. Volunteers phonebanked, spoke to classes, chalked, postered, trick'or'treated, canvassed, all in an effort to prepare the campus for election day.
It worked.
The buzz on campus yesterday was about voting. The Project had a table set up outside the UMC to target student voters with questions. Students came to the table, pulled out their cell phones, and called the county clerk to find their polling place. They headed off to cast their ballots equipped with a poster filled with helpful phone numbers, directions, and proper identification information.
Those who were turned away from polling places because of id issues were not detered; they patiently corrected the problem, returned to the poll boasting proper id, and waited to vote.
Across campus, CU students who had already voted were greeted by New Voters Project volunteers who handed them a t-shirt, a sticker, and three phone numbers of other students who wanted to be reminded to vote! Professors sought out Project volunteers to get information to give to their classes. Staff across campus agreed to wear VOTE stickers to help remind students to vote.
The Project volunteers made it clear that they did not care how students voted, just that students voted. "It's time for politicians to pay attention to us."
The New Voters Project is currently examining ways to make voting easier for students as they shift focus to youth voter mobilization in 2008...
