CACC Programs » New Voters Project » University of California, Santa Barbara

UC Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara , California
Website: http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~ash/nvp/index.htm

Organizer(s):We are a group consisting of members various student organizations at UCSB. The diversity of our members demonstrates our non-partisanship and committment to the issue of getting young people to vote. Also, our diversity allows us to draw upon the help from as many volunteers as possible. This works by our members reporting our activities to their groups, thus allowing the coordination of as many as their members as possible to help out. We are currently in the process of recruiting student leaders, campus organizations, and faculty/administration members to further extend our reach.

What is UCSB NVP?

The UCSB New Voters Project is a non-partisan group of diverse student organizations working to increase young voter turnout among UCSB students. For over two decades, young people have been turning out to vote in declining numbers. For example, in 2000 only 36.1% of eligible young people between the ages of 18 and 24 voted. By the 2004 elections, there will be 23.9 million people between the ages of 18 and 24. Our coalition will be working hard to get as many eligible voters to vote as possible. In addition, we don't just want young people to vote, we want to teach them about the importance of their vote so they can make an informed decision, thereby creating life-long voters that understand the importance of an effective democracy.

How will we accomplish this?

First of all, we need your help! If you have experience in voter registration, are a member of group on campus that may be interested in getting involved, or if you just want to help out of the kindness of your heart, pleas send an email to ucsbnvp@yahoo.com or join our listserv here.

Our main tactics will include:

1. COALITION BUILDING — We'll put together a campus coalition made up of as many groups as possible. We'll work with administrators to get them to institutionalize voter registration on campus and also to address past problems.
   
2. VOTER REGISTRATION — We'll run a voter registration drive with other groups on campus. We'll also work to institutionalize voter registration on campus by encouraging the administration to promote it, i.e. incorporating it into new student orientations, making it a part of the process of moving into the dorms, giving voter registration an option when registering for classes on GOLD. We'll keep copies of all registration forms so that they can be added to our voter lists to be used for GOTV efforts.
   
3. EDUCATION — We'll help students find non-partisan information about the elections. We'll host presidential debate-watch events and we'll bring local candidates and groups to campus for live debates
   
4. VISIBILITY — We'll plaster the campus with reminders for students to get registered and also to vote. We'll work with campus media to get coverage of our voter efforts and get the Daily Nexus newspaper to join us in our efforts to educate students about the election and to urge them to vote.
   
5. GET OUT TO VOTE (GOTV) — We'll work out to turn out students to vote. We'll do a door-to-door absentee voter drive a few weeks in advance of election day. And of course, we will have another door-to-door drive to remind students to vote right before election day. We will also set up GOTV phone banks to call students. We'll run a coordinated GOTV effort in student-heavy precincts.

Get Involved

We want your help! You do not have to have experience in getting people registered to vote. As long as you belive in our mission and have a few hours a week to spare, then there is a place for you in UCSB NVP. To get involved, send an email to ucsbnvp@yahoo.com. We will add you to our listserv so you can keep up with our activities. If you want to add yourself to our listserv yourself, go here.

Are you a member of a campus group? Would you like to represent your group within UCSB NVP? This is a crucial role that we nead leaders for. As a delegate for your group, you will attend our meetings and report back to your group. Then you will be responsible for recruiting willing volunteers from your group to participate in UCSB NVP activities. If you are interested, please send an email to ucsbnvp@yahoo.com.

Don't be shy! We need as many people like you as possible to make this work.

Join Our Mailing List (listserv)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ucsbnvp_listserv/

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