Group Strives to Increase Voting

Megan DeSmedt, Youth Vote coordinator at UNC-CH and N.C. State University, said the program aims to get students more involved in the voting process.

"Basically, we're working to get young people aware of the elections," DeSmedt said. "The bottom line is we want to increase turnout at the elections."

DeSmedt said Youth Vote has three goals it hopes to fulfill in the upcoming year.

"We want to register students to vote on campus, bring candidates to campus so students can ask them relevant questions and, most importantly, bring greater numbers of students to the polls," DeSmedt said.

She said Youth Vote organizers formulated a strategy to meet these goals at the kickoff meeting at UNC-CH on Tuesday night.

"The kickoff meeting allowed us to bring everybody together, discuss our options and decide on a plan of action," DeSmedt said.

Derrick Preston, chairman of external relations for student government, said Youth Vote set a goal Tuesday night of registering 2,000 people before the upcoming elections.

Preston said with the elections so close, the registration process would take priority over other matters at this time.

"We're going to have people set up in front of the South Campus residence halls and in front of Granville Towers," he said. "And we also plan to pass out registration information in front of Lenoir and Chase dining halls."

Preston said Youth Vote members also hope to set up debates and forums between local candidates. But he said Youth Vote wants to bring other politicians to the area as well.

"Our main goal is to set up a debate between Erskine Bowles and Elizabeth Dole," Preston said.

Youth Vote was run as a statewide program in North Carolina last year, but UNC-system Association of Student Governments President Jonathan Ducote said UNC-CH and other Triangle schools are the specific targets of this year's Youth Vote programming.

"The (UNC-CH) area didn't feel the full effects of the program last year," Ducote said. "The program itself will focus mainly on the Triangle area universities this year."

Ducote said the ASG is partnering with Youth Vote to encourage college students to make their voice heard.

"Youth Vote is just one of the voting initiatives ASG is partnering with this year," he said. "Other programs include Vote for America and Common Cause."

Ducote said getting area college students to participate in the voting process is increasingly important.

"Our goal is to get the 18- to 25-year-old age group informed and out to vote," Ducote said. "We're going to try and show them that the budget crunch can be less severe if the right people are elected to office."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.