UA 'gets out the vote'

With the presidential election a month away, this week the Undergraduate Assembly is converting Locust Walk into a mini-political headquarters. UA Voter Registration Week -- funded and coordinated by the UA Election 2000 Taskforce -- will run all this week. Both the UA and other Penn student groups will have tables out on Locust Walk, Monday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to encourage students to register to vote. The deadline to register in Pennsylvania is October 10. Last night at the UA's weekly meeting, the body agreed to pay up to $1,935 for the week's events. The events' coordinators are Wharton junior James Ku and College sophomore Arshad Hasan. In addition to the "Get Out the Vote" work, the UA is also sponsoring several political events this week, including a day-long gathering on College Green Friday, with food and games. According to the press release, this series of events was formed "with the goal of increasing student registration and turnout to match national levels." And statistics don't lie. The original statement the UA drafted says that in the 1996 election, voter turnout for the Penn campus area was 36 percent, in comparison to a national turnout of 49 percent. Registration rate was estimated at 50 percent, whereas it was 74 percent nationwide. Ku and Hasan both said that Voter Registration Week is necessary here on Penn's campus. "Student political participation is so low, especially at Penn," said Hasan. "Some groups have wanted to get involved politically, and I think if we work together as one group we may be efficient at it." Ku actually came up with the idea for the event. "I saw that voter participation was very apathetic and I thought that a great way to fix that would be to bring everybody together," said Ku. Both UA members are hopeful that Voter Registration Week will be successful. "We're confident that our campus has a renewed political spirit," Hasan said. "We know that voter turnout will far surpass turnout on campus during the 1996 national election, which was a dismal 36 percent." Other sponsors include the Penn Environmental Group, College Democrats, College Republicans, Penn For Bush, Penn For Gore, Penn Green Party, Penn Pro-Life, Model Congress, the Newman Center, Muslim Students Association, Asian Pacific Student Coalition, Penn Hillel, Debate Council, Penn ACLU, Penn Feminists and the Black Student League. Ku said, "With so many groups you never know, but I think all the groups will pull together because they all seem very excited. Let's just hope the student body receives it well." In conjunction with Voter Registration Week, there will be several events across campus. Tomorrow at 9 p.m. in Logan Hall 17, the UA is sponsoring a public viewing of the first presidential debate, and on October 4 at 7 p.m. in Houston Hall, Political Science Professor Jack Nagel will speak on student political participation. The week will end with a day-long event on College Green, with food, games and activities.