Faculty promote voter registration through numerous technologies

With the election for president just a month away, and the registration deadline two weeks away, the California Faculty Assn. has launched a campaign to get college students to register to vote. And even Xbox can help.

“There is nothing more American than exercising one’s right to vote, and many Americans cast their first vote as college students,” said the association's vice president, Kim Geron, a political science professor at CSU East Bay. “In today’s digital era of MySpace, Facebook and the many other social networks and websites, there is tremendous opportunity to register millions of new voters.”

The last day to register to vote in the presidential election is Oct. 20 in California. The faculty group in its effort is encouraging students to take advantage of the numerous forms of technology.

For example, Facebook has partnered with Rock the Vote to offer its users the opportunity to register directly from the popular social networking site. And MySpace has partnered with the Declare Yourself campaign. 

Some other projects:

Long Distance Voter has partnered with Rock the Vote to help people with absentee ballots.

Vote411, a site run by the League of Women Voters, intends to educate voters about the ballot, the rules for the state, finding your polling place and getting registered. And users of the Xbox Live service can register to vote via their gaming consoles. 

Or, for a more old-fashioned experience, if you download and complete the voter registration form, you can print it, sign it and mail it to the county elections office. In addition, voter registration forms are available at campus Associated Students Offices, county elections offices, libraries or post offices.

-- Mary MacVean

Comments

[Elora]

This is a wonderful post - I just want to mention Long Distance Voter's URL for people: for absentee voter forms, guides, and information, please browse to www.longdistancevoter.org.

Thanks!

Elora
elora@longdistancevoter.org