A small group of students gathered in Bruin Plaza to listen to live music during a voter registration event sponsored by the undergraduate student government Wednesday.
The event, organized by the Cultural Affairs Commission and the External Vice President’s office of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, marked the beginning of the voter registration drive for the 2012 presidential race. The goal is to sign up 1,000 voters by the end of fall quarter, said Joelle Gamble, USAC external vice president.
Prior to Wednesday, the office had registered 417 students at events such as the Enormous Activities Fair and Volunteer Day, Gamble said.
The final voter registration count from the drive on Wednesday was 76, bringing the total registration to 493, said Gamble, a fourth-year international development studies student.
With no upcoming presidential or gubernatorial elections, the organizers anticipated the event would be smaller than past registration drives, Gamble said.
Kinnery Shah, USAC Cultural Affairs commissioner, said the goal of the event was to reach out to politically unconcerned students who only vote during presidential elections and to make them become more involved in the political process. It featured performances by Los Angeles-based artist Mateo and the Westwood-based band The Ten Thousand.
During the show, volunteers from both offices stopped students in Bruin Plaza between classes and attempted to register them to vote. The goal is to make registering as easy a process as possible to accommodate students’ busy schedules, said Sheena Santamaria, a fourth-year global studies student and the co-chief of staff for Gamble’s office.
Although the live entertainment drew a small crowd of students, many of them were not aware that the purpose of the event was to register voters.
First-year undeclared student and registered voter, Annelise Yim-Lan, said she had no idea the event was to promote voter registration. Yim-Lam added that she thought the event would have been more successful if it was advertised more.
Student government officers plan to increase their voter registration efforts as the 2012 presidential race heats up, Gamble said.
The StudentsVOTE! Coalition, a network of student organizations and USAC offices, will be on Bruin Walk talking to students about upcoming presidential debates, prospective candidates and registering students to vote, said Paige Scheckla, a third-year political science student and the coalition’s director.
Gamble and CAC will host another event in the spring with the StudentsVOTE! Coalition as the primaries get closer.