Registerbomb gets 471 Central Michigan University students registered to vote in ten hours

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College Democrats want to get students prepared to vote this Nov. 2.

The registered student organization set up tables and knocked on doors yesterday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. for Registerbomb, an initiative intended to get people registered to vote for the upcoming gubernatorial election.

The event was the kickoff for Final Push Weekend, which lasts from Oct. 1-3. Registerbomb and Final Push aim to get as many as 2,500 to 3,000 people registered to vote before the Oct. 4 deadline.

“Voting is important for our generation because politically we are an underrepresented demographic,” said Brad O’Donnell, College Democrats president and Clinton Township senior.

On Thursday, participants raced to register 1,000 voters in 10 hours. However, they fell short of that mark with 471 by the end of the night.

Tables equipped with voter registration forms, pamphlets and candy were placed all across campus for easy access to anyone interested. College Democrats also spent a portion of the day knocking on residence hall doors so students could register from their rooms.
“We’re doing people a service because it’s a hassle to wait a half an hour to register at the Secretary of State,” said Southgate junior Eftjona Cobani, a membership director for College Democrats.

The concept of Registerbomb came from the idea of Moneybomb, where candidates up for election spend a day collecting donations for their campaign, O’Donnell said.

He utilized the Lake Superior Room in the Bovee University Center as the main headquarters for the initiative.

He had piles of completed registration forms on his table, which he planned to go over and make corrections where necessary by contacting the applicants.

The voter registration form is one sheet, but some students who registered found it somewhat confusing. The biggest identified mistake was people writing on the wrong lines.

People were allowed to complete the form even if they do not know their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their social security card. College Democrats planned to contact those people and get the information at a later time before the registration deadline.

Those who were too young to vote can register as long as their birthday is before the Nov. 3 election date.

“I’m actually going to go vote now, I’m excited,” said North Branch freshman Joshua Blay.

Blay, a first-time registrant, was one of many who stopped and took a few minutes to fill out the registration forms.

College Democrat’s campaign to rally more new registrants will continue today, with a primary focus on the residence halls.

“We could swing elections,” O’Donnell said. “A few more of us could actually decide elections. We can have an enormous impact.”