Democratic Party volunteers register voters in IMU

Nita Levison had been on her feet for a few hours, manning the Indiana Memorial Union Lit Desk and asking a simple question.

“Are you registered to vote in Bloomington?”

Levison is a volunteer with the Democratic Party of Monroe County, but her work on campus Wednesday wasn’t about any one party. It was about ensuring students knew the value of their vote in November and, of course, that they were registered to do so.

“Because I grew up in the South as I did, I saw a lot of people disenfranchised,” Levison said. “I want to see every citizen of this country vote. It’s an unalienable right.”

Many students walked past the desk in silence. Others mumbled a response to her question before scurrying off. Some stopped to fill out the half page of basic
information.

The issue of residency is a common question at the desk, said Chad Clady, director of Obama for America at IU. Clady has manned the Lit Desk for a few hours every day the last two weeks of school and plans to regularly staff the desk until the Oct. 9 voter registration deadline.

In order to vote for Monroe County candidates, voters must be registered in the county. Those registered in another Indiana county or another state must vote through absentee voting or return home to cast their ballot.

“A lot of students assume they have to register at home,” he said. “It’s more important, in my opinion, to vote here, where you will be voting for candidates that can directly affect you.”

Some students stopped to sign up, others simply to receive information.

Senior Eric Amador is vice president of Unidad Latina Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity. He stopped by the Lit Desk to find out how to register a large group of people. His fraternity will sponsor an event focusing on how Latinos have influenced and will continue to affect U.S. presidential elections. The event is scheduled for 7 p.m. Sept. 25 at La Casa Latino Cultural Center.

Amador decided to stage a voter registration effort at the program for multiple reasons, including the chapter’s participation in a national fraternity effort to register Latino student voters.

“First they need to get registered, and then they need to get informed,” Amador said.
The event is scheduled during Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, and on what the National Association of Secretaries of States have declared National Voter Registration Day.

“The timing could not have been more perfect,” he said.

As Amador left, another student approached Levison at the desk, ready to fill out the paperwork.

“We register everyone,” Levison said. “We don’t discriminate.”