A new voter education initiative has hit the campus of Florida A&M University.
The voter’s project “The Urgency of Now,” was created to educate students about the voting process.
Event organizer Vincent Evans said the importance of the student vote in Florida made organizations like this so important.
“We are the current swing state,” said the 20-year-old political science student from Jacksonville.
Evans said Florida’s vote can often times reflect the way the country will vote.
Ion Sancho, Leon County supervisor of elections, said students have to be aware of the voting process because they are targeted during elections.
“Welcome to being a target of the American political landscape,” Sancho said.
So far this year the voter’s project hosted a week of events to register and inform students. Events included a fish fry and a pool party.
In the past, the coalition made sure to address changes on voter information cards after Oct. 6.
The voter’s project also used existing campus events to reach students.
” (If) they don’t want to come to us, we’ll go to them,” Evans said. “We’re going to be at convocation and on the set.”
Calvin Hayes, a junior public relations student from Orlando, said students in the project will help their classmates in the voting process.
“Class Reps are students trained to answer questions and assist with registrations,” Hayes said.
Some students say they appreciate the voter’s project because the participants are very knowledgable.
“I asked Calvin a few questions and he had answers,” said Damany Daniels, a sophomore business administration student from Washington, DC. “People need to know what they’re talking about if they want things to happen,” Daniels said.
Asia McFarland, chairwoman for FAMU’s chapter of the United States Student Association Foundation, said the voter’s project will pass out pledge cards to interested students.
“Pledge cards say you will actually vote,” McFarland said. “It’s a confirmation to know how many we can expect to come out to the polls.”
The voter’s project said they plan to honor Michelle Obama’s challenge to register 100 percent of the student’s on FAMU’s campus. Obama issued the challenge during an on campus visit on Sept. 27.
“Michelle told us what the urgency was 100 percent of students on campus to be registered,” Evans said. “We must meet 100 percent.”