Community colleges look to register voters

The target is to get 10,000 new voter registrations in each state.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
MEADVILLE, Pa. -- Community college associations in Ohio and Pennsylvania have signed on as sponsors of a voter registration drive targeting young people in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The Ohio Association of Community Colleges and the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges have endorsed the effort to register 20,000 young voters at 30 Pennsylvania and Ohio community colleges and their surrounding communities this year.
The Center for Political Participation at Allegheny College in Meadville has received a $150,000 grant from the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University to coordinate the local effort.
It's part of a nationwide, nonpartisan drive to register 350,000 young voters this year.
The two-state plan is to get students, staff and faculty at 15 community colleges in each state to help secure 10,000 new voter registrations in both Ohio and Pennsylvania, said Dr. Daniel Shea, director of the Center for Political Participation.
The program will provide training for student volunteers at each of those institutions to work with their peers in registering young people in the surrounding communities.
"Young people are increasingly active in elections," said Dhira Dale, manager of the Ohio-Pennsylvania project.
"In 2004, the number of 18- to-29-year-olds voting in Ohio increased by more than 300,000," Dale said. In Pennsylvania, the growth number was more than 209,000.
Service
"Community and technical colleges serve hundreds of thousands of Ohioans each year through their credit coursework and noncredit offerings," said Terry Thomas, executive director of the Ohio Association of Community Colleges.
"This is a growing and potentially powerful group of future community leaders that deserves the attention of state and national policymakers," Thomas added. "Allegheny College is offering a fun and informative way for our 23-member colleges to increase student involvement, and thus student influence, in the democratic process."
The drive is scheduled to run through the summer and early fall.
The project will be used to help create a system for future efforts to register young voters.
gwin@vindy.com