SBU Rocks the Vote

By Rohma Abbas and Dan Woulfin

The 2006 general elections concluded with Democrats winning the governorship of New York and control of both houses of Congress.  Locally, incumbents were reelected to state representative offices   Volunteers at Stony Brook University spent months registering voters and directing students to the polls on Election Day.

For party loyalists Election Day is one of the most exciting and important days of the year. “If you don’t think you count, then you don’t,” Louise Harrison, a campaign worker for Brooke Ellison, the Democratic candidate for the local New York State Senate seat said, “When I pull that lever in the voting booth, I get a chill. I love Election Day—if I had to miss a year, I’d be bereft.” However, empowering voters is more than a one day event here at Stony Brook.

In the beginning of the semester a wide coalition spearheaded by the New York Public Interest Research Group, known as NYPIRG, was formed. This coalition included the League of Women Voters, the Undergraduate Dean of Students Office, the Undergraduate Student Government, the Resident Hall Association, the Schomburg-West Community Service Leadership Committee, the Graduate Student Organization, and the Graduate Student Employees Union.

Scott Zotto, a project coordinator at NYPIRG, said the effort was extensive, “We had tables set up in the Union, the library, the SAC, outside the SAC and other high traffic areas.  Students working with us had clipboards with forms and voter registration information on their persons every day prior to the deadline.” 

Resident assistants in campus dormitories also enthusiastically registered their residents.  Odilka Santiago, a resident assistant in Roth Quad said “It’s nice to see my residents and former classmates registering to vote, especially in an important year like this.”

These volunteers registered 1266 voters by the Oct. 13 deadline to vote in the 2006 election.

In order to get people to the polls, NYPIRG and other student groups spoke to their fellow students in class, around campus and at home. They had a display case in the Student Activities Center and Student Union dedicated to candidate information. Also, Zotto and his co-project coordinator Jihan Ward were featured on the WUSB-FM current events show In Focus for two weeks in a row.

The highlight of the get out the vote campaign was the Rock the Vote Fest, organized by USG Sophomore Representative Jeffrey Akita and NYPIRG interns. Over 75 students enjoyed entertainment provided by 10 different musical, spoken word, dance, and Rubik's cube enthusiast performers.

Matthew Abrahams, NYPIRG Voter Empowerment intern, was especially enthused by the event, “People are beginning to recognize the importance of voting and it will show in the polls.” His sentiment was repeated by students voting at the polling booth in the SAC. “You could make a big difference,”  Cristina Hyun said. “It makes you feel like a part of something important.” Both Abrahams and Hyun are part of what is called the youth vote — encompassing students under the age of 30 — that has risen by 4 percent in this year’s 2006 midterm election to a total of 24 percent according to exit polls and early published tallies of votes obtained by CIRCLE, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

This statistic was mirrored at Stony Brook. 700 of the 1266 voters who were registered on campus this semester registered from their campus dormitories. On Election Day 560 on-campus residents voted in SAC Ballroom B, significantly more than last year.