No voting precinct on campus this winter

By Nicole LaPrade

Santa Clara failed to register the 500 campus residents necessary to turn the university into a polling place for the November elections, despite enthusiastic efforts by professors and students.

Organizers had until Aug. 6 to meet their quota, but had only registered 234 by early August. Even though the Registrar of Voters office extended the deadline to Aug. 20, the university was still unable to sign up enough students.

Political Science professor Elsa Chen and recent graduates Rita Rodriguez and Emily Nguyen partnered with various student groups such as Associated Students of Santa Clara University, the Political Science Student Association and the Latino Business Student Association, as well as the Office of Student Life, to make the on-campus polling site possible.

According to Jeanne Rosenberger, dean for student life, many students had problems registering. The Registrar of Voters Office rejected many applications because they were not filled out in a way that allowed the computer system to read them.

The registrar's computer system only accepts physical addresses and not post office boxes. This meant that students would have to include their hall and room numbers on the voter registration forms. Initially, school administrators were reluctant to require campus residents to release such confidential information, which is why the university worked with the Registrar of Voters to find an alternative means of registering students.

Rosenberger said they had reached a solution near the end of the spring quarter, but by then it was too late. Most students were too wrapped up in finishing the quarter to take the time to register.

Organizers decided to turn their attention to registering the incoming freshmen. Freshmen registrants were ideal because the majority of freshmen live on campus and the voting precinct would only be available to students living in residence halls.

Rosenberger coordinated placing voter registration cards and instructions in freshmen orientation packets and arranged to have them distributed to each student as they moved into the residence halls on welcome weekend. She and a librarian from Orradre Library also sent out e-mails to the students with easy instructions and links to online registration sites.

Even University President Paul Locatelli, S.J., became involved by talking about the importance of voting in the upcoming elections during his welcome address at the freshmen orientation. Rosenberger also spoke about the registration drive to freshman parents.

Orientation leaders urged their group members to fill out the registration cards, even offering to turn them in for the students.

Despite such efforts, organizers were short by more than 200 students when their deadline passed, but they were not discouraged.

While organizers like Chen were unsuccessful in creating a university precinct, they were able to increase the number of campus residents registered to vote from 88 to nearly 300. Bob Nguyen from the Registrar of Voters said that there are approximately 290 campus residents registered to vote. Since the spring, project organizers have registered nearly 200 voters -- a number that does not include students living off campus or who vote absentee from their homes.

Organizers have now turned their attention to simply registering students to vote in the community.

There are 48 polling locations in the city of Santa Clara and 15 in the 95050 zip code that surrounds campus. Most Santa Clara students will be voting at the three polling places closest to campus: Fremont and Monroe streets; the Santa Clara Mission Library at Lexington and Main streets; and the Santa Clara Fire Station, at Benton and Alviso streets.

Students like Carolina Lopez, LBSA co-chair, and her fellow LBSA members have joined the efforts, organizing registration drives like one at McDonald's and another at their car wash where they registered 28 voters.

"One day I was riding in a car with five other friends and we were talking about the election and I was shocked to find out that I was the only one in the car who was registered to vote," Carolina Lopez said.

Lopez's discovery in the car soon coupled with a discussion she had with her best friend who attends school in Michigan and works for the non-partisan, non-profit organization National Voice. Their mission to register college students to vote inspired Lopez to help in the effort.

LBSA has now coordinated their registration efforts with the other student groups and will be occupying voter registration tables in Benson until the California registration deadline.

Chen said that the Registrar of Voter's office is willing to come to Santa Clara and do another Get Out the Vote registration drive, but she was unimpressed with the results from their previous visit.

"Last time they came to campus, it was during finals and they had a table outside of Benson and they got like two people registered," Chen said. "Which is really pathetic and I was really embarrassed."

Chen hopes that as the election draws nearer, people will become more excited. Eligible would-be voters have until Oct. 18 to register. Forms are available in displays located at Benson and in the Orradre Library.

*ààContact Nicole LaPrade at (408) 554-4546 or nlaprade@scu.edu.