SGA to organize voter awareness campaign in UC

By Colleen Griffiths
News Editor

Student organizations at UNCP will be having a voter awareness campaign to encourage college students to participate in the presidential election in November. The campaign, called No Excuses 2004, will provide live entertainment and food for students to enjoy as they pledge to vote.

No Excuses 2004 is a voter awareness campaign designed to increase the turnout of young voters for the presidential election. According to Vanessa Jones, the SGA president, of the 82 percent of registered voters in North Carolina, only 40 percent actually vote. "Increasing voter turn out and awareness is SGA's main goal," Jones said.

The College Republicans, Young Democrats and the SGA acknowledged that many college campuses have voter registration drives, but they felt as if simply registering was not enough of an incentive to get people to vote.

"Sure you can register to vote, but will you show up to vote?" Jones said of voter registration.

The three organizations said they came up with the idea for No Excuses 2004, "because after this campaign there will be no excuses for not showing up at the polls on Election Day," said Jones.

No Excuses 2004 will be held in the UC on Oct. 27, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The SGA, College Republicans, and Young Democrats will have booths set up for students to pledge to vote on election day, with live music and food.

"I would like all organizations to be involved. All organizations are invited to hold a table. This will allow students to learn more about the organizations offered here on campus," Jones said.

The cost for No Excuses 2004 is shared by all three organizations. Jones hopes that there will be enough interest from other campus activities that the cost for the campaign will be relatively low.

"We intend for all organizations to come out and participate, so that the cost will be little to none," she said.

For more information on No Excuses 2004, contact Vanessa Jones at 521-6578 or email at vnj002@uncp.edu.