As I was placing forms on cafeteria tables, someone asked me, "Why are you doing this?"
Why was I doing this? I had not actually thought about my actions. It all seemed so natural to me.
What was I doing? I was stopping at each and every table in the cafeteria around dinnertime, handing out voter registration forms. I was targeting the incoming freshmen. I asked them if they were registered. When a student said yes, I asked what state they registered in. If they said Pennsylvania, I told them we had a Senate race next year. If they were registered in New Jersey, I told them about the governor's race. I told them to vote in local elections.
If they said no, I asked what state they lived in. Pennsylvania say ye? I slapped one form on the table and hold another up in my hand. "Fill this part out. Sign here. Write the address. Put a stamp, lick it, and mail it in." If they didn't live in Pennsylvania, I told them to go to
Rock the Vote.com
I ended all my tirades with this:
"Now that I've met you, I know what you look like. I will stalk you and make sure you register." One of them humursouly complained about buying a stamp. I told him I would buy a stamp for him if he was low on cash. I told him that the 37 cents can change the world.
One guy asked me why I was doing this. "Is it because of Constitution Day?" he inquired. "Is there an election coming up?" I told him there was an election at least every November. I told that voter registration was absolutely necessary. I told him that America's actions impact the world. One guy asked if he could help me. I handed him about 20 registration forms and wished him luck. I went down to the college post office and grabbed half the registration forms they had.
My goal is to empty that bin of registration forms. I want to make sure every single freshman is registered to vote by November 2006. It's a modest goal. It's attainable. I go to a small, private university in the middle of nowhere. I'm in the middle of Chester County, about 40 minutes from Philadelphia. From what I've gathered, our campus is split into the atrocious thirds. One third Democrat, one third Republican, one third Apathycrat. Of course, when election time nears, I'll work on moving people away from supporting the destructive tendencies of Bush. But for now, I'm just trying to get people to register. There's no excuse for not participating in the world's greatest democracy.