Increasing Student Voter Turnout

By Means of Non-Partisan Voter Registration

Introduction
This report analyzes the benefits of a non-partisan voter registration group on-campus. The report will expand on the effects it would have with voter registration and political participation. In turn, we will see how political bias is affected by registering students under a non-partisan name versus a partisan name.

Student Voter Turnout

Student voter turnout, while it has been growing lately, has not been very substantial. This is because they dont know how to register. Once someone is registered, they are more likely to show up to the polls on election day. The only effort to register students on-campus has been put forth by the College Democrats. While it has shown tremendous success in on-campus student voter turnout, there is a large untapped market. Partisan groups like the College Democrats and College Republicans can and should focus on registering students, but there needs to be some form of non-partisan approach here. While the two-party system is blatantly evident, some students do not fall on party lines. If there is an outlet for independent voters, they would be more likely to register to vote.

How Do We Increase Political Participation?

To further advance on-campus student voter turnout and decrease the level of political apathy, I researched the following as viable alternative solutions: Establishing a student-run voter registration group on-campus Conducting voter registration with the Legislative Affairs Committee Hiring staff to orchestrate voter registration on-campus The information I gathered came from a variety of different resources, such as: Electronic Databases Other University of Wisconsin campuses Survey Results This report will go further into the research of finding the best option. It will conclude
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which alternative out of the three is the best equipped to increase student voter turnout.

Student Group
One solution to creating a non-partisan approach to voter registration on-campus is to establish a student organization. The student organization would be dedicated to providing students and community members voter registration supplies and information on-campus. The group could be established in one of two ways: Create a Coalition with current groups. Start a completely new group. The coalition would consist of members from previously established student organizations. Any one group could have a reason to be interested in registering students to vote. No matter what that reason may be, they have an invested role in how the election plays out and how successful the voter turnout is. To create a student organization, five people must sign the New Organization Profile, one step in the application for a new student group on-campus. An advisor from the University faculty will also be required to continue. From there a constitution must be drafted with a set of by-laws. This must fall in line with the purpose statement of the organization.

Political Apathy To create a student organization, there must be a lot of interest in the political process. Five students can accomplish a lot, but more involvement would be required to create a substantial difference. In a survey given to 100 random students in the University Center, one of the questions asked was if they had registered for the spring elections within the past four years. While these results do not come from a large enough sample size to be considered completely accurate, they do show a trend. Figure 1 shows the amount of students involved in political participation in the local elections, while Figure 2 shows the demographics of the students surveyed (on the following page):

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Figure 2 - Student Demographics 1st Year # of Students Surveyed 28 2nd Year 17 3rd Year 23 4th Year 25 5th Year 7

In the 2010 spring election, only 150 students out of the 2600 who live on-campus voted in the most publicized race for Pierce County Judge. In order for a student organization to work, there must be more interest in the subject. There would need to be a big push toward non-partisan politics as well. Finding students to fill the role could prove difficult, but is not out of the realm of possibility.

Legislative Affairs Committee

In the University of Wisconsin - River Falls Student Senate by-laws prepared by Student Senate President Joshua Brock on September 23, 2009, it states that the duty of the Legislative Affairs Committee is to promote student views on policy and legislative issues toWisconsin state legislature, Wisconsin Governor, United States Congress, and President of the United States. The Legislative Affairs Committee has held registration drives in the past, for both fall
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and spring elections, but it has not been consistent. Students need to have the information necessary in order to register to vote. Student voter registration drives fall directly under the Student Senate by-laws under the Legislative Affairs Committee and should hold high priority in manner of business since it directly correlates. Student Preference The Legislative Affairs Committee is a great platform for the voter registration drives because of its non-partisan nature. Students interested in involving their peers in political participation are part of this committee and would be a great fit for the job. I asked the 26 students who had registered for the spring election before who they had registered with. Figure 3 shows the results:

The student group category applied to any student group that has held registration drives, one of which is the UW-River Falls College Democrats. The majority of students that answered the question had registered with the Legislative Affairs Committee. If the committee were more active in registering students on-campus, there would potentially be a much higher voter turnout, no matter the level of election, whether it be national, state, or local. Former Legislative Affairs Directors Opinion I spoke to former Legislative Affairs Director Craig Witte on what role he and his committee played in registering voters on campus. While most of their effort went into the fall election, they made an effort to register students for the spring. Because the primary was in February, and because Wisconsin state law prohibits registering voters within three weeks of an election, we only had three days while school was in session to
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register students. Director Witte and his committee took advantage of those three days to distribute fliers and register students. It was an all day and all night operation for them until the deadline hit. If the same effort were to be put into the current election cycle, we would see many more students at the polls.

Hiring a Staff
The other solution to increasing student voter registration and turnout is by hiring a staff to work throughout the registration dates. The first step in filling a staff roster is by choosing applicants who have shown that they understand that voter registration is a non-partisan matter. The two previous solutions involved volunteers cooperating to make voter registration drives a success. In hiring a staff, there must be payroll. There are three ways to go about doing this: 1) Set an hourly rate. Staff would work on an hourly basis and be paid for each hour completed. The minimum wage is currently $7.25. I would recommend paying upwards of $10/hour. 2) Base the amount of pay on performance. Create a commissions based payroll that would reward staff for each successful registration. With this style of payment, there is risk of attracting the wrong crowd. Be sure you can trust who you hire, as they could add names by committing fraud. 3) Perhaps the best way to pay a hired staff would be to combine the two previous payroll options. Compare the results to how a food server is paid. They are typically paid a lower hourly wage while making tips on the side. Set a lower wage for the staff and reward them for good results.

Conclusion
Three alternative solutions to solving the issue of student voter turnout include the following:
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Organizing a student group Conducting voter registration drives under the Legislative Affairs Committee Hiring a staff to register voters on-campus All three options are viable and would work given the rise in interest. Each of the three solutions are unique and would perform on completely different levels.

Recommendation
Results show that students feel more comfortable registering to vote with a non-partisan group. In the past, that group has been the Legislative Affairs Committee under the Student Senate. The committee has organized voter registration drives in the past, but it has not been as consistent as it should be. By conducting voter registration drives on the allotted days for registration, student voter turnout will increase. There will be no fee involved other than printing the registration forms. The work will be completed by students interested in the electoral process and involving their peers in political participation. With the reasons listed, I believe organizing voter registration drives with the Legislative Affairs Committee is the best option available.

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