Promote the vote at UMD
By BECKY EDWARDS
DCN Correspondent
With the upcoming elections at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD), an organization called "Own Your Vote" offers guidance to students that may be feeling overwhelmed by the barrage of information that seems to be everywhere you turn.
Located in the Office of Civic Engagement, the people behind “Own Your Vote� have been working tirelessly over the past few weeks to provide information related to the election through a comprehensive and interactive Web site.
Dylan Savall, who is in charge of the content part of the Web site, said that he has worked hard to provide information by looking up articles from different news organizations. These include the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC), the Associated Press and even UMD’s newspaper, the Statesman.
“I try to find a new article to put up as often as I can,� said Savall. “Like last week, I found stories on undecided voters and an article about tricks some organizations use to try and stop students from voting.�
Savall also said he likes to take equal amounts of information from the candidates’ Web sites so the “Own Your Vote� site isn’t skewed one way or the other.
According to UMD’s director of the Office of Civic Engagement, Casey LaCore, the point of the unbiased site is to “promote smart voting and show what it means to be part of a democracy.�
Savall agreed.
“It’s extremely important to be informed,� he said. “We tried to make it easy so a student will know where they stand and hopefully, we can get them to read a few pages on our site.�
The site has only been around since Oct. 16, but it has already established itself as a useful tool for undecided students.
“It’s a good way to get the students the info they need,� LaCore said. “Of course they have opinions on aspects such as the war or gay marriage.�
Paid for by grants from the University of Minnesota and a local ad agency, the Web site provides many useful tools such as a quiz which matches people with their ideal candidate. It asks questions such as “What is your opinion about the war in Iraq?� and “What is your position on immigration in the United States?�
“The quiz is fabulous,� LaCore said. “It asks how much you care about a certain topic; it weighs it lower if you don’t have a strong opinion on it.�
Another part of the Web site that LaCore is proud of is the use of YouTube videos that showcase UMD students expressing their opinion on the election and the importance of voting. LaCore thinks these videos are good because it drives the issues home.
“They care about what their peers think,� she said. “The videos make it more personal so students can relate to it.�
Armed with what’s left of the 3,000 buttons, 3,000 Frisbees and 300 T-shirts with the “Own Your Vote� logo, LaCore and company plan on getting themselves out in the UMD public to get the attention of any students who have questions about voting or registering to vote.
Regardless of what happens on Election Day, LaCore and her team are proud of what they have done.
“It turned out better than I imagined,� she said.
LaCore knew that she had been successful when she went into a classroom and asked the students if they have heard of “Own Your Vote.� Everyone said “yes.� She then asked students if they were going to vote, and they all said “yes.�
UMD Own Your Vote