Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) is holding a voter registration event today (Sept. 24) to get students and faculty registered to vote or to update voter registration information.
The event will be held in the University Park from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be a short lineup of speakers giving information about National Voter Registration Day, along with free food and activities for attendees.
“Basically, Cal Poly (and) ASI have teamed up with a couple of outside campus organizations,” said Jacob Wolak, the ASI secretary of external affairs. “The whole point of the day is (because it is) the national day to make sure people are registered to vote.”
(Cheyenne Thomas | The Poly Post)
Wolak will speak at the event, followed by Eileen Sullivan, the interim vice president for student affairs and Victor Preciado, the vice mayor of Pomona.
“I think the political movement and atmosphere really has shown people they can’t just take things for granted,” Vice Mayor Preciado said. “They need to go out there, be loud and make a change.”
National Voter Registration Day, first recognized in 2012 and held annually on the fourth Tuesday of September, is a national holiday celebrating democracy, according to the movement’s website.
The ultimate goal is to provide information about voter registration for those who do not know where to begin.
The movement also wants to make sure unregistered voters don’t miss the deadline to register.
The event on campus will have information about civic engagement, voter registration booths and information about updating voter information to allow voters to go into the election season fully prepared.
“I think that’s pretty helpful for those who don’t know where to start with voting,” said Cesar Tenorio, a first-year accounting student.
Following the National Voter Registration Day event, ASI will also hold a polling place on campus in the Bronco Student Center for the Nov. 5 local election, March 3, 2020 presidential primary and for the general election on Nov. 3, 2020.
“I mean, it’s not just students, you know, (there are) faculty, professional staff,” Wolak said. “We want to make sure it happens because we hear election after election, people think that, ‘Oh, I’m not registered to vote so I can’t go on Election Day and vote.’ But the thing (is), we live in the state of California, (where) you can actually same-day register. (But) there are boundaries set.”
For more information about National Voter Registration Day, visit nationalvoterregistrationday.org.
