College Democrats spur students to register and vote

With the Nov. 4 presidential election fast approaching, some motivated students want their classmates to participate in the democratic process. “We feel that young people, college students, all over the country are truly going to make a difference in this election,” said Prakash K. Mansighani, President of the TAMIU College Democrats of America. The group held a voter registration drive in front of the Killam Library in keeping with its goal of empowering the youth vote. “The unprecedented number of people registering to vote this year is a true measure of how much excitement this election has produced. Furthermore, it goes to show that young people in this nation do understand what’s at stake here. Their lives and their very futures rest on the decisions these politicians make,” said Mansighani.The group’s efforts proved fruitful. During the first week of registration on campus (Sept. 22-25) over 200 TAMIU students registered to vote, and during the second week, another 100 were added. While the group supports the National Democratic Party (as the name implies), voter registration efforts were free of partisan campaigning in accordance with state and federal law. Now that the drive is over, however, the group’s focus can be summarized in a popular sports cliché: It’s on. “The TAMIU College Democrats now switches full force to GOTV [Get Out The Vote],” Mansighani declared. “We intend to support our candidate, Senator Barack Obama, full speed ahead. So we will be working diligently on that for the next thirty-some days, including early election events and campaign events.”He also remains confident as to where the college vote will land.”They [students] understand the direction we’ve taken in the last seven years has not produced the results that would spell out a better tomorrow. We believe that government would be better off helping college students attain the American dream rather than bailing out their buddies on Wall Street through the policy of trickle-down economics-a failed philosophy,” said Mansighani. In addition to registering first-time voters as well as students previously registered in other states, the organization hosted viewings of the Sept. 26 presidential debate between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama as well as the vice-presidential debate between Republican Sarah Palin and Democrat Joe Biden on Oct. 2. According to Mansighani, roughly 20 students attended the McCain/Obama debate; however, over 50 turned out for the anticipated showdown between Palin and Biden.Mansighani elaborated on the significance of the vice-presidential debate.”It seriously set the contrast between both candidates. I think it’s fair to say that both VP candidates did a good job in their presentation. However, most polls overwhelmingly indicated that Senator Biden performed much better because, simply put, he just gets it,” said Mansighani. The College Democrats also invited the university community to join them in the Student Center Theatre to watch the next two presidential debates on Oct. 7 and Oct. 15.