Posted on 09/27/2004 4:22:09 PM PDT by ambrose
Voter registration up in Vance: But NAACP's local drive draws fewer than hoped
By MIA MITCHELL, Daily Dispatch Writer Election Day is approaching - its Nov. 2 - but there's still time left for those needing to register.
With voter registration numbers up in Vance County and throughout the state, efforts are under way locally to get even more citizens registered and to teach school children about the importance of voting. In North Carolina, citizens must be registered by Oct. 4 in order to vote in November.
As of Sept. 18, there were 25,460 registered voters in Vance County, up from 23,172 in October of 2000.
Statewide, more than 110,000 people have registered to vote since July 1, according to the state board of elections.
Studies show minorities and young people ages 18-24 are the groups least likely to vote. At least a few people in town hope that will change this year.
"We're going to see what we can do," says Carol Manning, political action chairperson for the NAACP.
Manning and the committee have been actively seeking to register citizens since March. The NAACP had a goal of registering 1,500 people by the November general election. They've fallen significantly short of their goal so far, only managing to register about 360 people.
"It hasn't gone as well as we had anticipated," Manning said.
The political action committee has set up drives at churches, grocery stores and the community college, and members have canvassed door to door.
Manning said some of the 360 people needed to change information but most have never voted before.
Henderson Middle School social studies teacher Leanne Ginsberg hopes to get the message to young people that their voices matter during a school-wide civics project.
Ginsberg, along with the social studies department at Henderson Middle School, will hold a voter registration drive at the school on Oct. 4 from 4 to 6 p.m.
Before the drive, all social studies teachers facilitate discussions with students on key national issues such as education, health, economy, security, and the war in Iraq in a nonpartisan way so that the kids can make up their own minds.
With that information, students are to find people who aren't registered to vote and invite them to the drive.
"Our No. 1 priority is to teach students social responsibility," said Ginsberg. "We want to teach them to be active citizens."
Ginsberg also plans to invite high school teachers to participate in the project.
Ginsberg said classroom discussions with students thus far reveal that they have very strong opinions as to who the next president should be.
But there are still those, she said, who feel like one vote won't make a difference. That's when she reminds them of the 2000 presidential election.
When polling students recently, Ginsberg said she noticed hands went down when they were asked whether people in their homes voted.
Hopefully, she says, students will share the information gained from the project with their parents and other adults to encourage them to vote.
The culminating activity for the project will be a mock election for students on Nov. 1.
Booths will be set up in the auditorium for the students to cast their ballots. The results will be announced on election day.
"The idea is to get them into the practice of doing it," Ginsberg said.
After the registration deadline has passed, the challenge becomes getting voters to the polls.
Only 12,172 in Vance County made it to the polls for the 2000 general election.
Manning said her committee plans to make calls and get as many people to the polls as possible.
Manning said the committee also is encouraging early, one-stop voting.
"It's well worth the effort," she said.
The writer can be reached at mmitchell@hendersondispatch.com.
Anyone who waits until a month before the election to register to vote is an idiot, In effect the Dems are registering idiots. Then they will cry when these people are too stupid to work the voting machine.
nope.
Ok just curious, I was going to see what you thought of the Burr-Bowles debate.
How many of these people that they harass to register do so just to get the person to go away? Kind of like when someone comes up to you at a store and asks you to sign a petition...they count on people being in too much of a horry to actually care what they're signing, Only difference is that that lack of care doesn't translate well to actually voting.
It's hard to understand why John Effing is having such a hard time making the sell with Black America. Afterall he has so much in common with them and his wife is an 'African-American.'
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