Get Out the Vote continues to raise awareness and registrations

Last week Get Out the Vote held a campus-wide voter registration campaign in the residence halls. According to Courtney Whitney, director of events for Get Out the Vote, the residence halls campaign had a strong turnout.

“We want to get the student body to have a bigger say in local politics,” Whitney said. “If we can get a lot of people to vote, then we will have a big voice.”

On Friday, representatives of Get Out the Vote spoke with officials from the Bush/Cheney 2004 campaign strategizing committee.

“We gave them information about what is going on at our school and how it can help out their campaign,” said Pam Schiess, director of registration for Get Out the Vote, said. “We will have more events next semester, just trying to keep it in everyone’s minds.”

Among the anticipated events for next semester will be registration drives in the classrooms, as well as in the law, graduate and medical schools. Get Out the Vote will also host various events throughout campus.

According to Schiess, there will also be forums hosted by Get Out the Vote, Council for Democracy, College Republicans and the UM Young Democrats to educate students about the presidential candidates and to encourage registration.

Also planned for next semester are registration competitions between various student organizations, fraternities and sororities with cash prizes for the groups that register the most people to vote.

During the blast-off event for the campaign, Council for Democracy received $250 for registering over 70 people.

“We are still stressing the importance of registering and voting in Coral Gables,” Mike Johnston, director of Get Out the Vote, said.

To date, Get Out the Vote have registered over 500 people to vote since their kick off on Nov. 11. They are halfway to their original goal.

For more information on Get Out the Vote, contact VoteUM@miami.edu.

Leigha Taber can be contacted at l.taber@umiami.edu.