Putting my $ where my mouth is

[Radu]

Today I volunteered with Progressive America, a partisan organization (backing Barack Obama) as part of a drive to register young voters. The project itself is a nonpartisan effort to increase voter turnout, and with all the political venom and vinegar I spout here I felt it was actually time to get off my ass and do something about it.

Tomorrow I'll be helping to canvas more volunteers into this project on campus at the University of New Mexico. Quite honestly, I really don't care if someone wants to register Democrat or Republican--- as long as they vote. I'd prefer the vote Democrat, of course, and being a college campus there's a high likelyhood many if not most of the folks we register will be Dems. That's not really the point, though. The point is that this election is way too important to me for me to sit back and do nothing. I think voter registration is something everyone can get behind, and lots of partisan groups do nonpartisan voter registration drives.

Some of the numbers that convinced me:

80% of college aged citizens who are registered to vote do so.

30% of nonvoters say it was because they never registered.

Last election, George Bush won the state of New Mexico by a couple thousand votes. If we can mobilize that many new voters, who knows what results that will have this time? It's all part of a new "be less of a jaded prick" project I'm undertaking. We'll see if it is successful or not in a few months, I guess.

[Pigs in Space]

Good job!

I think you should seriously form a lobby group to petition govt to make it mandatory that all citizens vote.

Then you'd get more accurate elections, and almost 100% voter turnout.

[AZRogue]

Awesome, amigo. It's an important job. We are, as a society, kind of keyed into laziness, it seems. Giving the opportunity to register to a bunch of people that may not have found the time is a huge deal. Give them a little positive inertia. They'll be much more likely to show up and vote when the time comes.

[Utrecht]

I agree - while our politics don't match - I agree 100% with what you are doing - the more people invested in the system the better (even if they are a bunch of pinko college age communists :D)

[Name Lips]

Everybody should volunteer for some part of the political process at least once in their lives. We're a democracy - it should be like our pilgramage. Muslims go to Mecca. Catholics go to Rome. Patriots volunteer for and vote in elections.

[Sobek]

I've got mixed feelings about these sort of registration campaigns. I want to see every American engaged and invested in the process. But, if they aren't actually paying attention, registering to vote is a bit like handing a gun to an idiot. Some days I can really see the lure of only land-owners or only those who have served in the military. On the other hand, that's really elitist and good (and bad) ideas come from all sectors.

Good luck with your experiences in active politics. I worked with the local Republican platform committee and central committee in 2000. The platform committee was a very positive experience and really showed me the best of some of the people who are committed to their ideals. The central committee was a glimpse into machine politics and I did not like it. I assume Iowa is less nasty than more urban areas, and that scares me.

[Lady Fury]

Everybody should volunteer for some part of the political process at least once in their lives. We're a democracy - it should be like our pilgramage. Muslims go to Mecca. Catholics go to Rome. Patriots volunteer for and vote in elections.

I use to volunteer all the time when I was younger but I wasn't old enough to vote. My family has always been involved with the Republican party campaigning. My uncle was on the city counsel of years and I remember every election season going house to house campaigning for him. I was even in one of his brochures.

I'd like to volunteer again if I had the time but the problem is I don't really identify myself with either party now.