Students walking by Woodburn clock Tuesday evening were met with the sight of students talking, laughing, eating pizza and scribbling on clipboards in a sea of balloons.
“Are you registered to vote yet?” members of IU’s greek community called out to students passing by.
IU’s four greek councils collaborated to bring Rock the Vote, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that aims to drive the youth vote to the polls, to campus. All students were welcome to register and participate in giveaways.
Volunteers were prepared with the right forms to help students register to vote in Bloomington come November.
A group of around 10 students was gathered around the tables to register within minutes of the start of the event.
Passersbys approached volunteers to ask questions about eligibility, absentee voting and how to check their status as a registered voter.
Voter registration in Indiana ends Oct. 11.
Sydney Ellison, president of Alpha Gamma Delta, said she reached out to Rock the Vote to plan the event and cooperated with leaders from the four councils to bring the event to campus.
“I just think it’s really important to be involved in things that effect you no matter where you are on the political spectrum,” said Ellison.
Domino’s partnered with the greek community to provide free pizza for students, and Kilroy’s on Kirkwood offered to give free cover for $2 Tuesday on September 27 to students 21 or older who registered or proved they were already registered.
AGD member Megan Ernst said she chose to help register students at the event to teach them there is no good excuse not to vote.
“Voting is one of the greatest things you can do to take advantage of this country’s democracy,” Ernst said. “It can be easy and be fun.”
Ellison said she has discussed the importance of voting with her chapter and encourages them to engage in the political process.
“We want to have greeks be leaders in the community,” Ellison said.
However, Ellison said it is important for her to engage chapter members in the political process without telling them who to vote for or what opinions to have.
Jae’sha Baul, a member of Sigma Gamma Rho, said registering to vote is especially important to her because of her African American heritage.
Baul said the fact that ancestors of African Americans were not allowed to vote is one of the things that motivated her to come to the event and promote voter registration.
“I just think it’s important that we voice our opinions as young people in college and get as many people to register as possible,” Baul said.
