Civic Awareness Week to rally students to vote
In the coming weeks prior to municipal elections, a major push will be made to get Utah State University students registered to vote.
The effort to increase voter turnout will be the main purpose of Civic Awareness Week, Sept. 15 through 19, said Associated Students of USU Executive Vice President Ariel Thrapp.
The week, sponsored by the Public Affairs Board (PAB), will give USU students many opportunities to register to vote, as well as provide other opportunities to voice their opinions on any issues and become more civically aware.
“This is something that students will be facing the rest of their lives,” Thrapp said. “They need to start now to be aware, because this is how they defend their rights.”
Thrapp said if voter turnout among students increases, it would cause legislators to offer more consideration to the voices of students on issues like House Bill 331.
“Maybe senators and the representatives would have looked at it more seriously if they knew that a lot of students voted,” Thrapp said.
One event, Thrapp said, that will offer students the opportunity to voice their opinion on any issue is the Brutally Honest activity, scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 16 at noon on the Taggart Student Center patio. The event will allow anyone to stand up and speak about any issues which are important to them. She said any issue important to students, like landlord-tenant rights, can be brought up.
Each student participating in the activity will receive a “Brutally Honest” T-shirt, Thrapp said.
Candidates for the Logan City Municipal Council will be on the patio at noon Wednesday, Sept. 17 to meet with students. The band Jonesin will also play at the activity.
Thursday, Sept. 18, students will also be able to participate in MTV’s “Rock the Vote” activities. Thrapp said she didn’t know what exactly was involved with MTV’s program. She said they have their own set of civic awareness activities set up and that free Aggie Ice Cream will be provided.
MTV was scheduled to bring their “Rock the Vote” campaign to the USU campus last year, Thrapp said, but did not show up. She said she has been attempting to contract the MTV representative out for this year, but has not received a reply to her requests yet.
While there will be many activities throughout the week for students, Thrapp said the major focus of the week will be on getting students registered to vote.
“The reason students don’t vote is because they don’t know,” she said.
The PAB will have voter registration tables set up in the TSC throughout the week, but Thrapp said there will be more efforts this year to register students, as compared to years past.
Members of the PAB will visit residence halls, knocking on student’s doors, in an attempt to get more students registered to vote.
“We’re going to go door to door, so anyone on campus, as long as they don’t have a stop sign up, we’re going to try to get them to register and let them know where to vote,” Thrapp said. “It’s the only thing that is approved for going around residence halls.”
Making students aware of where their voting precinct is located will also be a major focus of the efforts of Civic Awareness Week, Thrapp said. Focus will be placed on freshmen who are not aware of voting locations.
“We want to hit the freshmen, because they’re the ones who really don’t know how to register to vote, don’t know what’s going on,” Thrapp said.
Thrapp said she believes civic awareness is extremely important to students.
“When more students vote, then the legislators have to start listening to us, because we are their constituency,” she said. “It really is a big deal. To me, it is one of the most important things students can do at college, learning how to be civically involved.”
-str@cc.usu.edu