PACE sponsors voter registration drive

SALISBURY, MD ---The Institute for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement (PACE) has been actively involved during this fall semester in student voter registration. In addition to new voter registrations, volunteers and interns are helping students who are currently registered to vote to apply for absentee ballots.

Drs. Harry Basehart and Francis Kane, co-directors of PACE, emphasized the importance of student involvement in the voting process. Basehart, chair of the Political Science Department, says that with the amount of paperwork involved in registration and absentee ballots, the voter registration tables manned by PACE are a much needed service to encourage students to become politically involved.

Heading the student team of around 20 volunteers and nine interns, Ron Cirillo has also recruited professors and educators to invite PACE into their classrooms to spread the word about their voter registration drive. He is pleased with the involvement of the faculty, which has increased significantly over the previous years.

"Students have the lowest involvement by age group in the voting process", said Kane of the Philosophy Department PACE is hoping to increase these numbers by launching this campaign on the campus each fall.

Alice Wilkerson, a political science major and student intern at PACE got involved partly because of such statistics. She said, "At one point in time, people in our age group fought to have the right to vote, and now students don't take advantage of that right. The voter registration drive makes it easier for college students to register and vote. Many students don't know how to register or get absentee ballots. However, by bringing the information to them through the drive, many more students are able to exercise their right to vote."

In this gubernatorial race year, the voter registration project is important, to give students a voice in their government. In 2004, the presidential election year, PACE will be involved in an even larger effort to get students involved in the voting process as well as offering programs to raise their political awareness.

To learn more about the voter registration project or to become involved, contact PACE at 410-677-5045.