With the general election quickly approaching, an organization focused on helping college students vote will try to help educate students and administrators with the voting process.
The Campus Vote Project will host an online town hall for college students and campus administrators at 3 p.m.
Today, the online town hall will focus on strategies to help encourage college students to vote in November.
Speakers will include Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and student leaders from Ohio State University, and the event will be aired via Google Hangout, a video chat session that can add multiple users from anywhere in the world.
The discussion will also be broadcast live on YouTube at youtube.com/FELNinfo.
The Campus Vote Project was launched earlier this year and was created by the Fair Elections Legal Network, a nonpartisan advocacy organization that hopes to remove barriers regarding voter registration.
Josh Spaulding, the communications and policy manager for FELN, said the program is a campaign to help college students work with administrators and local election officials to make the process of voting easier.
"Our main goal is for students to overcome barriers they often face when it comes to voting such as residency laws, registration deadlines and strict voter ID requirements," Spaulding said.
Other barriers include people giving false claims that registering to vote at school may jeopardize eligibility for financial aid, their parents ability to claim them as a dependent on their tax returns or their ability to remain covered by their parents' insurance plans, according to the Campus Vote Project website.
"There are a lot of issues affecting students, from increases in student loan interest rates, to raising tuition costs to the economy," Spaulding said. "If we get a lot of students who participate, politicians will see them as a powerful block of voters and take their concerns seriously."
Many students feel the Campus Vote Project is great in helping them participate in voting.
"I think it is cool that they are trying to get the younger generation more involved in the voting process and to know more about registering to vote," said Jeremy Salmon, a sophomore athletic training major.
By having the Campus Vote Project, Spaulding said he wants as many schools as possible to participate in education of the voting process to ensure that all students will be able to cast their votes in the upcoming election.
Students can register for the event or receive more information at salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/6411/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=6619
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