‘Dorm captains’ register about 100

College Democrats president Jared Matthews said he wanted members to act as a liaison between the organization and Residence Services.

“During the summer when I was considering a game plan for the upcoming election, I really wanted to have a liaison from College Democrats to their respected dorms,” he said. “I want to have residents in their dorms registering other residents to vote.”

Matthews estimated the group has a dozen dorm captains who were able to register about 100 students to vote.

He said captains were to ask their resident assistant or residence hall director about having a few events in the residence hall. For example, dorm captains asked to speak before hall events, post fliers in the halls and place signs outside their rooms.

Andrew Clark, the dorm captain for Prentice Hall, said he is pleased with the 10 to 15 students he registered.

“This election is very important, especially considering the dynamics of the election,” he said. “The youth vote in the past two elections has failed to turn out as it needed to.”

Matthews said although this dorm plan is more of a grassroots approach, the effort is being conducted across the country.

ChiChi Nkemere, communications director for The Ohio State University chapter of College Democrats, said the group has a similar dorm captain program.

“Basically, when kids were moving in, they were being handed voter registration,” she said.

Although Nkemere did not remember the exact total, she said the number of voter registration forms they received was in the thousands.

She said freshmen and sophomores were going to be persistent in making sure their floormates were registered, whether they were seen as annoying or not.

College Republicans president Drew Seachrist said the group has only been registering people in the Student Center.

“We’re pretty much leaving people alone in the dorms,” he said.

Contact student politics reporter Nicole Stempak at [email protected].