New voter registration options

By Jackie Womack
The Collegian

On Tuesday, Fresno State students will have the chance to do something that other Californians can’t: They will be able to both register to vote and cast their ballots on the same day.

Regional Early Voter Day will be held from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the University Student Union.

“Essentially, it will be the same as any other [voting] place that a voter might have gone to,” said Anthony Yrigollen, a social work major and vice president of First Nations organization, who came up with the idea over the summer.

The voting project, modeled after events on other California college campuses, is also an effort of several student organizations besides First Nations, according to Yrigollen, including Associated Students, the National Association of Social Workers, Southeast Asian Social Workers, African American Social Workers and Trabajadores De La Raza.

Yrigollen said all students have to do is walk up to the voting table and identify themselves and the county they live in. Then they’ll be directed to the right county table, where they can register, and the county official will upload the correct ballot into the voting machine.

Voters will be casting provisional ballots, according to Yrigollen. Provisional ballots are those where the vote is cast first and then the county of residence will verify the voter information has given before counting the vote on Election Day.

Yrigollen said the Fresno State administration has been very supportive of the project, helping to arrange a meeting with Fresno County Clerk Victor Salazar.

“One of our-the university’s-goals is to be more engaged in the community and this is a perfect example of civic engagement,” said Paul Oliaro, Fresno State’s vice president of student affairs. “This is just a win-win situation for everyone.”

Oliaro said Fresno State President John Welty would be at the opening of voter day as well as Salazar and that an all student e-mail was sent out to inform students of the event.

He said students are known for not voting and events that increase their voter participation also increase their clout with politicians.

Engineering major Chris Lopez is one of those students who doesn’t vote.

“I would vote [but] I just have no time to go and register,” said Lopez, a junior. “I do want to vote.”

Lopez said being able to register and vote on the same day is “really cool.”

“I think I’m going to do it,” he said.

History major Lindy Hash said that student apathy is a problem.

She said because students didn’t have to fight to vote, they don’t care as much. “If it doesn’t directly affect them, then they don’t see the point,” Hash said.

Even with the ability to register the same day, some students may not take part.

“I don’t have any time whatsoever,” said Julio Alvarez, a mechanical engineering major.

Alvarez said since he doesn’t know that much about the election, he won’t vote on Tuesday.

Including other counties in the program besides Fresno was one way to let more students take part, Yrigollen said.

“We were very mindful of the fact that we needed to have a regional effort in order to meet the needs of students,” he said.

The number of students who vote will be tracked to see if this event increased student participation, according to Yrigollen.

“Our hope is that we can demonstrate there’s a need to bring this back for future elections,” he said.

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