Smack Down Your Vote - Bloomsburg University, PA

On November 7^th, 2006 Bloomsburg University’s chapter of Democracy Matters hosted a get out the vote drive called “Smack Down Your Vote.” The obvious purpose of the event was to remind students to vote. Based on previous experience, for an event this big to be successful three things are required, the first is free food, the second is loud music, and the third is talking with professors. Once students hear about free food the word spreads like a wild fire and when anyone hears loud music, usually most people will instinctively want to check it out. The most important part of setting an event up is talking with professors before hand. Meeting with any professor face to face and telling them, what your event is and what you planned is key. Also from this meeting, if you can tailor the event towards something the professor is teaching in class this will increase your chances of getting students to attend. The most important part of meeting with a professor is asking them if they can either require their class to attend the event or offer extra credit. It is very different when you put them on the spot and ask them face to face instead of through an email.

Along with the three key components, we invited the University Democrats and College Republicans in a debate. They debated issues such as Iraq, Iran, Tuition, Economic policy, taxes etc. Later in the day, they talked about why you should vote for their specific candidate. They debated each candidate who would be on the ballot.

Throughout the day, we provided voter guides for students who attended. The voter guides were strategically placed near the food so students would have to walk by them to get to the food. Theses guides contained the candidate’s views on issues such as Tuition, Student Loans, Iraq, Corruption/Ethics, and various other hot button issues.

Advertising the event took time and effort. We started preparing for the event almost a month before Election Day. We made fliers, table tents, wrote a press release, spoke in classes, and had our advisor send an email to all faculty, multiple times. The table tents had all kinds of stuff on them such as free food, learning about who to vote for, and the location and the times things were taking place.

The biggest challenge when organizing this event was planning. Reserving a room big enough, getting a band to commit to the event, ordering the food, paying for the food, getting permission to put the table tents in the eating areas, talking to enough professors, printing all the materials, researching the candidates views and making sure the Democrats and Republicans were ready to debate proved to be a daunting task that required the involvement of all of my members.

Despite the tremendous amount of time it took to plan the event, we made a huge impact. Almost 400 students voted who lived on campus and more than 200 off campus voted. This had a tremendous impact on the local state representative race and it was because of our efforts.

The lessons learned from this event are planning is everything and every member needs to help. If you do not give yourself enough time to get what you want done, you cannot do it last minute and you cannot do it yourself. The more members you can delegate things too the better. It is better for you because you will not go insane trying to do everything and when people are involved they will want to stay involved.

John Latini Jr.

President – Campus Coordinator

Democracy Matters

Bloomsburg University

orgs.bloomu.edu/budm