Groups hope to add to U.'s political awareness

A voter registration drive is being held all week long on Locust Walk. It's not unusual to find Locust Walk littered with brightly colored quarter sheets of paper, remnants of student groups trying to attract their peers to their cause. But this week, the quarter-sheets aren't about a party on Friday night or an a cappella performance. Instead, they're about politics. With the deadline for registering to vote in the April 5 Pennsylvania presidential primary fast approaching, political groups this week are supporting each of the four major candidates as part of Voter Awareness Week. "Our impetus for doing this was that students at Penn are extremely intelligent, extremely involved," Voter Awareness Week co-chair Beth Harkavy said. "But there seems to be a lack of political involvement. Students can have a big impact on the issues if they get out and vote." So throughout the week, Penn for Bush, Penn for Gore, Penn for McCain and Penn for Bradley will join forces with the College Democrats and the College Republicans to register voters from Penn's student body. Six tables with voter registration forms greet students and faculty as they rush down Locust Walk to class, to meetings and to the library. According to Harkavy, the goal of voter awareness week is to help get Penn students registered to vote in the state primaries. "This is a week where we're focusing on education and awareness on campus," the College junior said. And the Penn groups supporting different presidential candidates see this as a perfect opportunity to get the word out on the candidate of their choice. Consequently, the groups decided to hold "Issue Days" on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, with each group issuing quarter-sheets on the stance of their candidate of choice on a particular issue. Yesterday, students learned about the views of Bill Bradley, John McCain, Al Gore and George W. Bush on education. Today, each candidate's opinion on the state of the American economy will be discussed. And tomorrow has been dubbed "health day," giving the four groups a chance to advertise the candidates' take on health care, Medicare and Medicaid. "Those three issues really highlight the candidates' differences," said College sophomore Matthew Oresman, the co-chair of the Penn for Bradley group. But Friday, known as "free issue day," gives the four organizations a chance to highlight their candidate's platform on a subject of their choosing. As part of the effort, the College Democrats also hosted several senatorial candidates vying for the Democratic bid in an informal discussion and the College Republicans invited any politically inclined Penn students to a relaxed movie and dinner discussion last night. According to Penn for Bush co-chair Patrick Ruffini, what is unique about this week is the non-partisan foundation that is underlying the different groups' efforts. "People may not realize that if you want to vote in the primary, the deadline is fast approaching," the College senior said. "That's the whole point of what we're doing." Oresman echoed his sentiment, adding that a lot of students are "really looking for a candidate" before they cast their ballot. But overall, Ruffini thought Voter Awareness Week was living up to its goals -- getting Penn students involved in politics. "Some people come up and argue with us, some people come over and help," Ruffini explained last night. "It's achieved its goal, bit by bit, every day on the Walk. It's given everyone a chance to gradually build up their membership base."

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