Student organizations sponsor on-campus voter registration drive

Sophomore political science student Garrison Green registered to vote the day of his 18th birthday.

"I was very excited to vote," he said.

He shared his excitement with other students Wednesday by helping them register to vote, alongside his fellow Kappa Alpha Psi members.

Kappa Alpha Psi was one of many organizations that sponsored a voter registration drive to encourage students and employees to register to vote in the Panhellenic Ballroom from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.

At press release time, approximately 300 registration forms were completed.

Other student organizations that sponsored the event included Black Student Association, Hispanic Student Association, Kappa Alpha Psi, Phi Beta Sigma and Zeta Phi Beta.

West Tennessee Students for Barack Obama began planning the drive this summer.

In order to represent all parties equally, Students for Barack Obama invited other political student organizations, including College Democrats and College Republicans.

Party affiliation during the drive was not important, according to Cortney Richardson, coordinator and sophomore communications major.

"We want everyone to vote," Richardson said.

"We're all here for one cause - the main thing we're trying do is to get everyone out to vote," Green said.

The drive was an all-day event to target every student and University employee, said coordinator and senior African and African American studies student Carlissia Graham. She said most voter registration drives are held during prime lunch time hours in the Tiger Den or Wilder Tower, "but there are more students on this campus that need to be registered besides those who go to the Tiger Den."

"We're giving students the venue to actually exercise their voting power," Graham said. "We want to give commuter students, faculty and staff the time to come in at their convenience."

Organization members and executives also encouraged people to fill out absentee ballots.

When the organization thought they wouldn't have the funds to put together the drive, Phi Beta Sigma came to their rescue.

"Their organization didn't have the proper funds to put the event on, and they were going to have to use money from their own pockets, so instead of doing that, we gave them some money to put the event on," said Brandon Hill, former Phi Beta Sigma president.

The fraternity donated $200, which went to food, entertainment and "whatever we could do to make the event better," Hill said. "We just appreciate the opportunity to do it with them. It gave us a new friendship we didn't have."

Students weren't only provided with registration applications but also with food and live entertainment from various bands and DJs thanks to Phi Beta Sigma's donation.

This was the first voter registration drive held by the organization. Richardson said he was please with the turnout, and Graham would like to see more drives in the future, not just for presidential elections but for other elections.

"Our generation needs to be involved in the country, more specifically this city," Graham said. "We have the power to affect change."

Organizations involved in the voter registration drive are working on sponsoring watch parties for the 2008 Presidential Debate at The University of Mississippi.

A watch party is also in the works for Nov. 4 from 9 p.m. until 4 a.m. to watch the votes come in.