A new campaign recently emerged from the University of Wisconsin campus to get more students to the polling booths this fall. The Madison chapter of the Black Student Union, a student organization at UW, is sponsoring a movement to get 85 percent of the African American students in Wisconsin registered to vote.
Christopher Loving, president of the Black Student Union and UW junior, said between 17,000 and 18,000 African American students would constitute 85 percent at University of Wisconsin system schools. Loving said he and other UW students are coordinating with other campuses and student organizations around the state to get the most students possible to the polls. Loving said students at state campuses like UW-Milwaukee and UW-Green Bay and private colleges like Edgewood and Madison Area Technical College are working with the UW Black Student Union to reach its goal.
The campaign will officially start today, according to Loving, and will not only set up tables at different campus locations like the Memorial Union, but also reach out to the Madison community.
“We’re just trying to get out the vote,” Loving said, adding he will try to get non-registered young people who are not students to register as well. For instance, the UW Black Student Union will host a public roller skating event on Verona Road March 5, where attendees will receive a dollar off of admission if they register or show proof of registration.
Loving added that students participating in the statewide campaign will hold a training program in the electoral process sometime in April.
However, Loving did not know off-hand the current percentages of African American student voters. He said he wants to find out once the project gets rolling.
“I don’t know [how many African Americans] vote now, but that will be interesting,” Loving said.
UW political science professor Charles Franklin said the campaign is facing an uphill battle because of the historically low turnout by young people.
“85 percent — that’s a lot,” Franklin said. “Nobody votes less than 18 to 25-year-olds.” Franklin added that the national average is 70 percent voter registration. Franklin also said, “Registration is one thing; voting is another.”
Franklin did say there is nothing specifically high or low to African American registering turnout, but said the challenge lies in getting students to get to the polls. Franklin did offer that black students might see a greater resolve to register to vote, because the Black Student Union heads up the initiative, by trying to create “ethnic solidarity.” Franklin recalled in 1964, when the Civil Rights debate was raging and found its climax, African American voter turnout was greater than white voter turnout.
“There was a great sense of social purpose,” Franklin said, adding that no pressing social or racial issues are at hand in November’s general election, but “whatever gets more people to vote is good.”
Franklin said he has seen many students try to mobilize others to vote in past elections, and noted that the student age group is particularly hard to mobilize. Franklin also said evidence supports that voters are more apt to vote throughout their lives when they begin voting at a younger age. This is a goal Loving wants for his bi-partisan campaign.
“We’re not endorsing a candidate — we just want to get out the vote.”
