For Immediate
Release—Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2006
Contact:
Mary E. McCrank
Media Relations Officer
(585) 245-5516
SUNY Geneseo Fires Up its Voter
Registration Campaign
GENESEO, N.Y.—In an attempt
to help increase the impressive number of young voters locally and nationally
who turned out for the 2004 presidential election, the State University of New
York at Geneseo will participate in this year's National Voter Registration
project.
The project, initiated by
the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), will cover
30 states with a goal of registering 40,000 students to vote for the 2006
election. The AAC&U project is part of a bigger push coordinated by Young
Voter Strategies to register 350,000 young voters across the country before
elections this fall, which take place Nov. 7. Geneseo President Christopher C.
Dahl serves as vice chairman of the AAC&U.
"This is a serious effort to
get students engaged as citizens," says Tom Matthews, director of leadership
education, development and training at SUNY Geneseo. "A huge part of
citizenship is voting."
The goal this year is to get
about 25 percent of the student body, or 1,300 students, to register and vote
this year.
"In a democracy, voting is
more than a privilege; it is an obligation. All of us who are the beneficiaries
of higher education need to do our part to make democracy work," says Matthews.
"We have asked the faculty
in every academic department to emphasize the importance of voting with their
students. Many professors will make presentations for their classes aimed at
teaching students the importance of voting. Many professors also will pass out
voter registration cards in their classes so the students can fill them out
while the topic is fresh on their minds. There are also events planned in
various residence halls on campus to make sure the message is being heard by
our younger students," says Matthews.
According to state law, all
SUNY schools are required to provide a voter registration form to each
student.
Other events on campus aimed
at promoting voter registration include two candidate forums this fall. All of
the candidates running in districts that represent Livingston County in the New
York State Senate and New York State Assembly have been invited to participate
in the first forum, which will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 26 in the
MacVittie College Union Ballroom. The candidates running for the 26th
Congressional district have been invited to attend the second forum at 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 4, also in the ballroom.
"We have a great voter
registration and turnout history amongst the students here," says Matthews.
"There are a lot of students who really have a genuine interest in the issues
being debated by our politicians. They really understand the big picture, which
is that their lives are directly impacted by the person that wins each
election. I really hope that all of the candidates choose to participate in the
forums."
The candidate forums are
open to the public. For more information, contact Matthews at (585) 245-5857 or
matthews@geneseo.edu.
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Written by Joe Mignano,
public relations intern in the Office of Communications and Publications.