Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

Voice Your Vote registers over 10,000, catches attention of media

12. October 2004 • Matt Hollerbach
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By midnight on October 4, Voice Your Vote had registered almost 1,000 students in less than a day. Adding to the furious work done over the previous four weeks, that number put VYV’s tally of new registrations to 10,038.

The highly successful drive gained attention outside the University community as well as within, with articles appearing in major and minor news outlets across the country.

An excerpt from the LA Times story featuring VYV:

That mood was evident at the University of Michigan as the deadline approached for registering in that state. Volunteers from the student government’s Voice Your Vote campaign unfolded a green ironing board with blue spots on a corner of the Diag, and then drew enough of a crowd all day that students were frequently waiting in line to register.

By day’s end, the volunteers had registered enough students to push the campaign’s total for the year past 10,000, almost one-fourth of the entire campus.

The Michigan Review, a conservative monthly campus newspaper, also published an artcile about VYV in its most recent edition. The article alleges that VYV has been a part of a concerted effort to register voters using partisan tactics, and states that liberal students on campus attempted to exclude conservative students from VYV’s registration drive.

Considering VYV registered students by the stadium on football days and made numerous offers to provide volunteers and registration resources at conservative events on campus, the writer of the article seems to have been misdirected in his accusations against the group.

Also on ArborUpdate:
> 9/20/04: U-M Students Launch Voter Registration Drive
> 9/26/04: Thousands gather in Detroit to demand action
> 10/2/04: MI voter registration deadline Monday