Politicos focused on voter registration

With the general election only two months away, voter registration has become the key focus for political groups throughout the city and state.

In a presidential race that many have labeled the most important in their lifetime, and which promises to be tightly contested, both partisan and non-partisan groups are determined to maximize voter turnout.

As the registration deadline for Pennsylvania voters is Oct. 4, this month will be the most active.

"Ultimately, for the first three weeks [of the semester], there's nothing we do that's more important than voter registration," said Rich Eisenberg, a College senior and president of the Penn College Democrats.

Yet the race for Philadelphia itself is not a serious concern for either Democrats or Republicans. In the 2000 election, Gore took the city by about 340,000 votes. Republicans admitted that this result would probably be repeated in the November election, but said that Pennsylvania, as a swing state, is the larger issue.

"I think [Pennsylvania] is absolutely key," College senior and Penn College Republicans chairwoman Stephanie Steward said. "If we can bump up statewide [party] membership, it could make the difference."

To that end, partisan groups are attempting to persuade students to register to vote in Pennsylvania. While many acknowledge that their votes are more meaningful in this state, there is some confusion among students about the validity of registering outside their home state.

"Generally speaking, people are eager to register in Pennsylvania," Steward said. "The problem is, a lot of people don't realize they can do it. They think they have to register at their permanent address."

If the number of people registering yesterday on Locust Walk is any indication, many students have realized the truth about voter registration laws. Each major party gained at least 100 new adherents yesterday, an unexpectedly high number for the Republicans.

"I'm surprised and happy about the way the freshman class has been supporting President [George W.] Bush," said Eric Rechtschaffen, a College junior and president of Penn College Republicans. "Philadelphia is 5-to-1 Democrat to Republican, but [at Penn] we think that there's going to be grounds for support."

Student activists are joined by partisan groups such as the Democrat-affiliated America Coming Together and members of the two major parties for the basic voter registration legwork, going door-to-door with forms in hand.

Some of these people have demonstrated a serious dedication to their cause. Ruth Schoenbach and her mother flew in from San Francisco to stand on Locust Walk yesterday and register people, under the guidance of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

"In California, we're pretty certain to go Democrat," she said. "We wanted to go to a swing state. Pennsylvania has a lot of electoral votes, and I had a week off work."

Yet registration is only one-third of the battle. In the 2000 election, 95 percent of the voting-age population was registered, yet only 54.7 percent voted.

"Motor voting" is a commonly cited reason for this significant disparity.

Anybody who obtains a driver license in Pennsylvania is automatically registered to vote, in a law designed to make voting easier for state residents. But it has led to double-counting of people who change addresses, and even to deceased people remaining on the voter registration list.

"The Motor Voter law makes it more difficult than it used to be to remove people from voter registration rolls who don't live there anymore," said Matt Wolfe, Republican ward leader for West Philadelphia. "I've seen numbers where more than 100 percent of the people according to a census are registered."

But apathy and individual self-interest are still the root causes of low voter turnout, particularly among the young and poor.

"If you're 18 to 25, you're inner-directed, you're worried about your boyfriend or your girlfriend or schoolwork and don't take the time to vote," said Fred Voight, executive director of the Committee of 70, a political watchdog organization in Philadelphia. And "when you're struggling to survive, you don't have much time. There are major efforts to penetrate" both groups.

To counter complacency, voter registration initiatives are planning to aggressively pursue the people on their lists, calling them constantly and coercing them down to the voting booth if necessary.

"A lot of it is actually being out there and telling people what's going on," said Jessica Smyth, a College junior and vice president of Penn College Democrats.

She added, "We have to create an awareness -- by panels, speakers, making people aware of the election [and] making sure people are telling their friends, "I'm voting, you should vote too.'"

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