This fall Student Government has made it a goal to provide Vote Vans for the gubernatorial elections.
Thanks to the dedication of many members of Student Government including Student Senator Ally Bowers and Secretary of Government and Academic Affairs Ryan Huff, this Tuesday, Nov. 3, we will be following through with this initiative.
We will be providing two seven-passenger vans to take students from Sandy Creek to the local polling place at W.T. Woodson High School, which is less than 5 miles from campus. The shuttle will run from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m.
The vans will be driven by members of Student Government, and will alternate trips, with one heading to the polls while the other is departing, with the hope that no student has to wait more than a few minutes for a ride.
Not only will this event give students an opportunity to get to the polls as quickly as possible without having to block off a large portion of their day to go vote, but this year students will also be provided with non-partisan literature on both the Republican and Democratic gubernatorial candidates.
The platform information provided for both candidates will be drawn solely from the campaign websites of Bob McDonnell and Creigh Deeds.
We encourage students to review both campaign websites prior to Tuesday. Bob McDonnell (Republican): http://www.bobmcdonnell.com/. Creigh Deeds (Democrat): http://www.deedsforvirginia.com/.
The elections this week will have an impact on Mason going forward, and our goal is to have students embrace this idea and vote.
We are hoping to harness the passion of last year’s historic presidential elections and get the message out to students that the election for governor impacts our lives just as much, especially as we are college students at a public university.
With George Mason University being a public institution already facing budget cuts, having an ally in Richmond is very important.
This university relies on state funding, which varies and is heavily influenced according to who is elected as governor.
To help get the word out, Student Government first organized volunteers to register students to vote at their Fairfax address on October 5. With around 15 volunteers, we were able to register around 50 students, and provide mail-in registration forms for students wishing to register for the first time at their home address.
As this registration drive was a last minute push, Student Body President Dev Dasgupta and Chief of Staff Peter Danjczek drove the students’ registration forms to Fairfax County to personally hand in the forms that same day.
More recently, Student Government members have been chalking, speaking with student organizations, working with Mason Votes, and reaching out to the Mason Media community to get the word out about the Vote Vans.
On Election Day, Student Government will once again provide food and drinks at a snack table located in front of Parking Services at Sandy Creek, where the Vote Vans will be departing.
Also, Pi Kappa Alpha will be providing its 100+ members to volunteer on Tuesday, to promote the Vote Vans and hand out the literature on the two gubernatorial candidates.
With snacks, non-partisan literature on both candidates, and transportation being provided, we urge all students registered on campus to take advantage of this free service and vote, as the new governor will have influence on our budget and ultimately, the future of our university in the years to come.
Peter Danjczek, Chief of Staff, & Devraj Dasgupta, Student Body President, contributed to this article
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