Student groups form coalition to register new voters

Thirteen student organizations put aside their specific groups' agendas Tuesday night, and within one hour, they came together as a new group called Penn Rocks the Vote. Under the leadership of the Undergraduate Assembly, a combined student effort to register all University students to vote will begin Monday, targeting students on Locust Walk and in University residences. College Republicans, College Democrats and nonpolitical University groups are involved in Penn Rocks the Vote, which is the first University-wide coalition of its kind, UA Chairperson Jeff Lichtman said. "The coalition is significant because it is really showing that Penn students are, 1) active and interested and, 2) have found a way to come together and work as a cohesive unit," Lichtman said. Leaders of partisan organizations participating in the effort said Tuesday night, that their volunteers will remain unbiased when registering students to vote. They said that their first priority will be registration, not party affiliation. "When I work with Penn Rocks the Vote, I will be nonpartisan," said Scott Sher, College Democrats president. "Penn Rocks the Vote is so generic, so universal." Sher, a College junior, is also Penn Political Union's secretary and Philadelphia's 27th ward Democratic committeeman and secretary. "You can worry about how students will vote later," said College senior Marcia Zabusky who is leading the University's Vote For A Change chapter, the student arm of the Democratic National Committee. Sher said that voter registration at the University is important because "20,000 votes are significant in a state that is [expected] to be a swing state." UA Member Ethan Youderian said he will consider "anything over 500" voter registrations a success. "The UA being involved in a coalition is a way for the whole student body to benefit," said Lichtman. Penn Rocks the Vote will have a kick-off ceremony Monday afternoon which President Sheldon Hackney will attend. Two booths, manned by members of different organizations each day, will be set up on Locust Walk during the next two weeks. "There has been so much apathy [and] lack of knowledge [and] desire," Zabusky said. "People are getting the hint that they have the power to influence their future." The other student groups involved in the registration campaign are the Onyx Senior Honor Society, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Penn Pro-Choice, the Black Student League, the PanHellenic Council, the Big-C and the InterFraternity Council.