Voter education bus stops at Duke

Voter education literally rolled onto the quad at Duke University on Friday.

A 45-foot tour bus painted bright red and blue parked in front of Duke Chapel the latest stop on Project Vote Smart's national tour of college campuses which began October 2007.

Project Vote Smart founded in 1992 is a nonprofit nonpartisan group that collects information on politicians and candidates and makes it readily accessible to voters through an Internet database.

Jeremy Clemens legislative research director for Project Vote Smart" said the group aims to cut through the ""spin and rhetoric used by politicians in their campaigns.""

The group's tour bus is equipped with wireless Internet and a screening room that plays a film highlighting Project Vote Smart's mission and how to access the database.

Visitors Friday were able to view the film and explore the candidate database — all within the bus.

Outside"" volunteers distributed Project Vote Smart literature as well as voter registration forms.

Clemens said the bus tour is the group's first and is helping the organization announce the completion of their candidate database.

""It's basically our coming out party"" he said.

Lindsey Needham, a UNC sophomore, interned with Project Vote Smart earlier this year at the organization's ranch in Montana.

The project's database is compiled through candidates' answers to the Project Vote Smart's Political Courage Test, which asks candidates to report their positions on issues important to voters, Needham said.

The candidates' answers are then compared to their voting record, as well as any campaign contributions they have received. About 50 percent of the candidates never take the test, Needham said.

Ron Butler came from Fayetteville with his family of four to see the bus.

WRAL reported on the tour stop this morning" and we decided to make a field trip out of it" he said, explaining that his children are home-schooled and that the family thought the bus would make a great educational tool.

Eric Zimmerman, a Duke first-year, stopped by the bus to pick up a voter registration form.

Zimmerman, a Democrat from Texas, said he would rather vote in a battleground state like North Carolina, where his vote is more likely to make a difference.

Faisal Khan of Cary praised Project Vote Smart for giving voters an opportunity to look deeper at the candidates they support.

People these days are disengaged"" Khan said. There are simply too many layers of information for most people. It's very important to have transparency on these issues.""

The project's tour bus has eight more college stops planned before election day.

The bus will be in Washington" D.C. the week before election day on Nov. 4 when the group will unveil a giant American flag balloon on which students from all the tour stops have written their thoughts on candidates' election tactics.

The balloon which has passed through several stops already" reflects that voters are dissatisfied with the prevalence of negative attack ads and the country that the direction is headed.

""We wanted to give people a canvas they can write their views on."" Clemens said.



Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.