Last week, MOVE Trinity and the Trinity Progressives partnered to register voters on National Voter Registration Day. The registration efforts involved of a tabling event in Mabee and registration in classes on September 22.
Beth Legg, the co-president of the Trinity Progressives, explained the overall goal for registration during National Voter Registration Day.
“Our ultimate goal is to have 1,000 voters across San Antonio. But most of all to engage our campus in voting and make sure civic action is promoted,” Legg said.
MOVE Trinity and the Trinity Progressives registered voters in classes on September 22. Legg described the reaction of the professors to their registration efforts.
“All the professors have been very eager. They’re all happy to help and they know the importance of it. We’ve typically had 5-7 students registering per class,” Legg said.
The two groups registered students in a variety of courses not limited to political science classes, according to Legg.
“We’ve registered classes all across the board. I just registered a classical mythology class,” Legg said.
MOVE Trinity and the Trinity Progressives anticipated registering a high number of voters during the registration tabling in Mabee, according to Andrew Sander, the treasurer and secretary of MOVE Trinity.
“I think now that we’re tabling at Mabee, we’re going to see an increase in people registering,” Sander said. “Ideally we want to get as many voters we can. If we can get a couple hundred that would be great.”
Last year, TurboVote, a service that allows people to register to vote online was used on National Voter Registration Day.
“This year we’re not using Turbo Vote because it’s very expensive. We’re going to wait until next year to use it again for the main election,” Legg said.
TurboVote also provided students with an option for text or email reminders on election days.The reminder service went an extra step to help voters commit to vote.
“So far we’ve had a good response. We’ve been less intense this year because we haven’t had TurboVote. It’s been a little harder to engage people because we’re not necessarily saying “˜commit to vote’ instead of just “˜register to vote.’ That’s a new game in itself,” Legg said.
Nick Santulli, the debate coordinator for the Trinity Progressives, explained that the year before the main election is often considered an “off-year,” which he disagrees with.
“I don’t think of this as being an off-year because the primaries are happening. People have the opportunity to register early and vote in the presidential election,” Santulli said.
Santulli described the importance of registering to vote.
“It’s important to exercise your civic duty. Voting really is the one say we get in our government. It’s the only universal way that everyone has a voice,” Santulli said.
Legg explained that one of the goals of registering Trinity students is to encourage the youth to participate in politics.
“Our age range is currently the lowest in voter registration so we’re trying to change that and make sure young people become politically engaged,” Legg said.
Sander described the importance of college students voting during elections, noting the importance of youth activity in politics.
“We’re the youngest generation, we’re the “˜future leaders of the world’ as everyone likes to say, and we definitely have a say in what will happen,” Sander said. “And right now people aren’t voicing it as much.”
