Ladies and Gentleman, we have a nominee.
During Brandeis’ Presidential Campaign, candidate Jason Gray promised to try and ensure that every Brandeis student will vote in the November Election.
I open the forum and take it a step further, how do we ensure that every Brandeis student votes for November? and how do we ensure that almost every Brandeis student will vote for Barack Obama?
I like the plan.
What’s the backup plan if we can get it at Gosman?
One redaction: Meant to write Voter Awareness during the month of October, not September.
Hey all. Thanks for the shout-out. I, along with Alex Melman and others, have been working on an initiative called Brandeis Votes.
(This is more about voting in November than specifically for Obama… although that’s what I’ll be doing in my spare-time…)
Brandeis Votes will be the Student Union’s community initiative aiming to maximize voter participation in the 2008 election by engaging all of Brandeis University in a large-scale voter registration drive and voter education effort.
Here’s the plan:
Voter Registration, throughout September
During these weeks, different parts of the Brandeis community will run voter registration competitions, encouraging as many stakeholders to register as many new voters as possible. For example, we will have different clubs sign up to be a part of this, work to register as many new voters as possible, and we will run it like a competition with prizes. I am currently in the process of getting different parts of the University to run their own voter registration competitions as part of Brandies Votes as well (like academic departments, res life, etc.).
Kick-Off event/concert and then voting weekend event/concert – Beginning of September and beginning of November – Some sort of kick-off and ending concert/event to raise profile and awareness of voter registration drive and then of election. Currently working to collaborate with a campus club to make this happen.
Voter Awareness, The month of September
During these weeks, The Office of Communications and the Student Union will collaborate on a series of voter education forums/speakers on the issues relevant in this election. Forums may be a panel of professors about a certain topic, or an outside speaker addressing a relevant issue. This will include providing necessary information about absentee balloting.
Also working on getting Gosman to be a polling place… it is unclear at this point whether it will happen (as it is not fully in Brandeis’ hands), but am pushing for it.
So… that’s the plan so far. If anyone has ideas about topics for the forums during the month of September, or any other comments or suggestions, or would like to help out in any way (!), shoot me an email at jgray@brandeis.edu or give me a call at 954.695.7307.
Enjoy Summer,
Jason
My hope is that the on-campus political groups (both left and right) organize some kind of absentee ballot push – making it easier for people to find the applicable forms for their state and doing so in a timely matter.
I think it is less important to stress Obama (even though I and most fellow Brandeis students will vote for him) than actual participation. I hope to be able to assist this when I get back to school.
I think the problem at college campuses can often be that people get their absentee ballots late in the mail and than don’t have a chance to vote This happened to quite a few friends of mine during the primaries. We should encourage people who need them to make sure they get them early