DuluthCommunityNews

Ebert is UMD’s campus contact for the school’s chapter of the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (MPIRG). She and the rest of the group’s true diehards spent the morning parading around campus “chalking up� any classroom in sight; that is writing messages on chalkboards encouraging students to vote. Hard at work to make any final impact they can on Election Day, their message on these chalkboards is relatively simple: “VOTE.�

"Chalked-up" blackboard in UMD lecture hall, (photo Mark Warner).

MPIRG is a non-profit, non-partisan group designed to encourage college students to take action on public interest issues they may not otherwise have known about. During non-election years, the group champions causes such as fair trade, women’s rights and environmental hazards. According to Rebecca Covington, the campus coordinator, an emphasis is made to look at these huge issues from a campus-wide perspective.

“We try to take these bigger, worldwide issues and focus them into a local college perspective.� she says. “It makes meeting goals more tangible.�

For the past three-plus months, the group’s focus has been squarely on the impending election.

“We’ve been working to register students since mid-August,� Ebert says, “I’m really glad today is finally here.�

And who could blame her? Working around the clock for the greater good is not an easy task. Whether she is going door-to-door chatting with on-campus students or working the tables in Kirby, her job requires a time commitment not many would make.

“I haven’t gone to a lot of classes in the past three weeks…but my grades aren’t struggling too much,� she says.

After a car accident last fall, Ebert sometimes finds herself limping around school after full days of spreading the word by foot. While not all MPIRG members are as dedicated as Ebert, the group as a whole has been quite effective. After setting out to register 2,100 college voters, the final tally was closer to an amazing 5,100. Ebert says she knows why.

“It’s because we’re rock stars,� she says. “Not many groups are willing to work as hard as we do.�

Over a third of MPIRG’s 15,000 statewide student registrations took place on the Duluth campus.

On Election Day, MPIRG’s duties do not stray far from what they have been for the past months. After all, today is the day the group has been working so long and so hard for.

Freshman member Eric Lemke even went as far as calling his first Election Day, “like Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving all rolled into one.�

Ebert frantically spends much of her day racing between training new members in UMD’s Multicultural Center to working the dorms to prevent last minute laziness from prospective voters.

In the middle of the Election Day grind, Ebert takes time to enjoy herself.

“Good job everybody! Go Democracy!� she yells after seeing the line of on-campus voters wrapped entirely around a lower level stairway.

Though not all of MPIRG’s members show the passion of Ebert, all seem to share in enjoying being part of the organization, albeit for different reasons.

Ebert loves to be involved with people and to have access her peers may not.

Covington enjoys helping others. She even left a more lucrative job in the corporate world to do so.

Lemke is thrilled by the political process. He cannot wait to vote for the first time and actually joined MPIRG in high school.

Jacob Croke loves the social aspect. As a non-traditional student (he started school at age 25) Croke says he has met nearly all of his college friends through working with MPIRG.

And Steph Bolz just wants some extra credit. Even so, she provides as fine an explanation for the need to cast a ballot as anyone else:

“If you don’t vote, you don’t count,� said Boltz.