San Francisco State University Example Campus Vote Initiative Program
San Francisco State University
San Francisco, California
- Organizer(s):
- Coalition (Student Groups, Faculty and Administration)
- Size:
- 27,000 students
San Francisco State’s activities surrounding the election were the result of a broad coalition of efforts from faculty, students and the administration. Voter registration activities were highly organized and began well in advance of the election. Because so many individuals were involved in these activities, they were very diversified and reached many different segments of the student body.
Project Highlights:
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Student organizations
Student organizations, including fraternities and sororities, Hillel, and other interest groups offered their help in doing voter registration. Four days were designated for high profile involvement–September 21, October 4, October 9 and October 10, and took place on Malcolm X Plaza adjacent to the Cesar Chavez Student Center. On September 14 SWAVE (social work organization) registered 55 new voters in one hour. On September 21, the Political Science Students Association took over the plaza and conducted an effective voter registration drive–registering 135 students, staff and others. Earlier, The October 4 event was coordinated by Associated Students, and on October 9 the Asian and Pacific Island Association arranged for entertainment and voter registration activities. Hillel and several other organizations did an intense push on October 9 and 10. Additionally, they were able to take advantage of the 25th Anniversary of the Cesar Chavez Student Center to conduct voter registration during four days of the week-long activities. The student efforts were augmented by political organizations voter activities throughout the registration period.
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Faculty efforts
The California Faculty Association conducted its traditional voter registration campaign at two locations on campus: in the library area and in the Humanities building courtyard. During the campaign, the faculty volunteers registered 1,457 people and involved more 90 faculty and staff members in the effort. The faculty also participated in a classroom voter registration campaign in which students were registered to vote during class time. Finally, the Philosophy Department sponsored a debate by faculty who represented the various political positions of the candidates running for president.
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Administrative efforts
On September 22, SFSU established its website link to on-line voter registration, with several methods to access the link through the home page and the student page. The website link, “Vote 2000″, received 825 “hits” through October 10. To publicize the website and remind people of the importance of voting, President Corrigan sent out e-mail messages to students, staff and faculty. He also prepared an op-ed for the Golden Gate Xpress, which covered voter registration activities in several of its weekly publications, and included a column on voting registration in “First Monday,” the campus-wide newsletter. Also, Vote2000, along with the Political Science Students Association, presented four debate watches, three of which featured post-debate discussions led by political science faculty.
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Get Out the Vote efforts
GOTV activities at SFSU included appearances on campus by both Gloria Steinem and Ralph Nader. The voting website, featuring a get-out-the-vote message by President Corrigan, was also updated to include links to absentee voter applications and information on how to find polling places for voting. Prior to the election, President Corrigan also sent an e-mail to all students, faculty and staff encouraging them to vote on November 7. Election Day activities included a jazz concert on the main campus plaza from noon to 2:00 pm; between songs representative faculty, staff and students urged listeners to go to the polls. As an incentive for voting, two cafes on campus offered free coffee to anyone who presented proof of having voted. And on Election Night a returns watch was held in the student center where people could stop by and watch and watch the results come in on the various television networks.
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Post-Election Survey
In order to gauge the effectiveness of campus voter registration and get-out-the-vote activities, SFSU conducted a survey of students regarding voting. Experts prepared the questionnaire and the sample was drawn from students with U. S. citizenship. Students from an upper division political science class were trained to administer the questionnaire by telephone, which was conducted during the week following the election. After the first night of calling, the survey director was elated with the response rate, the quality of the questionnaire, and the professionalism of the students conducting the survey. Preliminary data from the survey showed that 75 percent of eligible SFSU students voted in the 2000 election; 90 percent of registered voters turned out. The final report on turnout and voter attitudes will help determine a baseline of information for use in future elections, and the data will be available to students for future research projects.
