Centre College Debate News

Fact Sheet #6: Voter registration

Centre College students, with the help of the college Office of Volunteer Service, launched a voter registration drive on last spring and are continuing their efforts through the fall elections. Members of the Centre chapters of College Democrats and College Republicans sponsored voter registration tables on campus on April 14th and moved their efforts to local shopping centers on Saturday, April 22. The students are hosting registration tables at shopping centers three Saturdays this fall (Sept. 16, 23, and 30), and the Collge distributed registration forms to all first-year students at faculty-sponsored picnics during orientation week.

Ann Young, Centre director of volunteer services, is coordinating the effort, along with Boyle County Clerk Denise Curtsinger. In a media briefing that launched the drive, associate history professor Clarence Wyatt called attention to the low turnout of young voters in the last Presidential election. "Barely 24 percent of persons 21 to 24 years old voted in the 1996 election," Wyatt said. "Centre students would like to take leadership in local efforts to improve that record." Young indicated that the student volunteers will use voter registration cards and instructions provided by Curtsinger's office. The students will deliver completed cards to Curtsinger, whose staff will follow-up with individual voters in case of incomplete information or other questions.

The need for voting drives:
Young Voters in the 1996 Presidential Election*

18 to 20 year-olds	21 to 24 year-olds	25 to 34 year-olds
31.2% voted in 1996	24.2% voted in 1996	43.1% voted in 1996

* based on information from the U.S. Census Bureau

Updated: April 18, 2000