College Democrats working hard to get word out
Watching political debates and spending the weekend knocking on doors in Colorado may not sound fun for many students, but for the students involved in the College Democrats, it is part of what they do.
The College Democrats is an on-campus organization which gives students the opportunity to meet other students with similar political views. Caitlin Laughlin, president of the College Democrats said the club could be considered more of a social group.
“With the massive presidential election on top of us, we have got very involved with sending people to Colorado, having a table on campus to increase awareness, handing out information on both candidates and having debates,” Laughlin said.
Canvassing in Colorado is one of the things many club members have participated with. Soren Rasmussen, junior in international studies, has gone to Colorado multiple times to campaign for presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Rasmussen said during the trip they spend the weekend knocking door to door meeting people. He said they usually leave on a Friday evening and drive to Colorado. He said the students stay with volunteers who have volunteered their home for the weekend. Rasmussen said they travel over the state of Colorado and visit the cities where their help is needed most.
“It’s really nice to go out and talk to the people,” Rasmussen said. “It’s fun to see their feel for what’s going on.”
Anna Harris, freshman in international studies, said they have a reason why they are driving so far to canvass and it’s not just for fun.
“In Utah, it’s sad to say, but with this national election it doesn’t really matter how you vote,” she said. “But in Colorado, the vote tends to be a little more swing, especially this year. We feel we can do more good campaigning and canvassing there.”
Kjersten Thayne, sophomore majoring in law and constitutional studies, said not only is Colorado more of a swing state but the state also contains more electoral votes which she said makes more of a difference campaigning there than in other nearby states.
Aside from canvassing, the College Democrats also participates in numerous debates. John Adams, junior majoring in political science, said the debates are between the College Republicans and the College Democrats.
Cam Davis, junior majoring in political science, said he enjoys participating in the debates. Davis said the debates have been held more frequently because of the upcoming election. He said they are held to explain issues to the audience and answer questions for audience members directly.
One thing the College Democrats have been working towards is helping increase the numbers of voters on campus. Harris said over the past few weeks, with their efforts, they have registered 4,049 students to vote.
Harris also said that no matter how adorable students think their voter registration cards may be, they need to use them.
“They can’t just be an accessory,” she said. “People need to get out and vote.”
Laughlin said one of their main goals on campus is to not only encourage diversity, but also to remind people they have choice when they are voting.
“There a ton of people coming out and voting this year in our age group,” Laughlin said. “That is actually why when people look at the polls they are not sure what is going on. It’s all because they do not know how many of us are going to come out and vote. If we do get out, we can really swing the election.”
Davis said one of the main things the club is here to do is to educate students and give a voice to the minority. He said in Utah many people don’t get the opportunity to hear what the minorities platform has to say. He said students need to be educated and hear issues from both sides.
Rasmussen said he puts forth the effort to be apart of the club because he sees a lot of things around him that he doesn’t think are working well.
“If you is disagree with something or don’t like the way things are going you should work to change that,” he said.
Adams said he comes from a military family. He said his dad is currently serving in Iraq and has been gone for almost a year. He said it is Obama’s foreign policy he is wedded to because he likes the idea of everyone having their family members home by 2010. He said he is involved to get the word out and let people know about issues going on today.
Thayne said she considers herself an idealist. She said she is trying to make things better because she sees a lot of problems with the political system and feels the democratic candidates have better plans to solve some of those problems.
“It’s easy to say ‘that’s what I believe, I’ll vote for them but I’m not really going to vote for them’ and I think that’s why we put so much work into it,” she said. “If we won’t, nobody else will.”
For students interested in the College Democrats, e-mail Laughlin at caitlin.laughin@aggiemail.usu.edu.
–courtnie.packer@aggiemail.usu.edu