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First-year voter registration competition signs up 667 students

Balz-Dobie claims first place

<p>The Balz-Dobie dorm houses most of the first year Echols scholars.</p>

The Balz-Dobie dorm houses most of the first year Echols scholars.

More than 660 first-year students indicated they had already registered to vote or registered as part of a voter registration drive in dorms.

Balz-Dobie had the most residents registered, at 49 percent, while Page-Emmet had the second-highest rate with 29 percent. Tuttle-Dunnington rounded out the top three with 26 percent.

The competition, sponsored by UVAVotes, Virginia 21 and the Center For Politics, aimed to register as many first-year students as possible for the upcoming presidential election before the Oct. 21 deadline.

UVAVotes is a newly formed initiative started by the Student Council’s Legislative Affairs Committee. According to its official website, the group represents a “non-partisan student-led initiative at the University of Virginia to increase voter participation and encourage civic engagement on Grounds.”

The younger demographic makes up a large portion of the electorate, but is often underrepresented in elections, Katie Brandon, third-year College student and committee co-chair member overseeing the initiative, said.

“Students should vote because it's their civic duty and right,” Brandon said in an email statement. “People around the world are still fighting for a democratic system of governance. The fact that we have universal suffrage, with very few exceptions, is incredibly fortunate and we shouldn't take it for granted.”

Brandon said dorm competitions are a great way to encourage voter registration and foster healthy competition.

“Given there's already some rivalries between dorms, this was the best way to capitalize on that for a positive reason,” Brandon said.

In addition to harnessing competitive drive, a Mellow Mushroom pizza party was promised to the dorm that ultimately won the contest.

Josh Bicer, third-year College student and Center for Politics intern, said while he thought much of the student motivation originated from the excitement to finally vote, prizes helped to incentivize students.

“I think that the Mellow Mushroom pizza party really incentivized them,” Bicer said.

Efforts to encourage civic participation among students will not end with the 2016 dorm competition, both Brandon and Bicer said.

“We are in the process of working with the Administration to create a systematic way for U.Va. students to register to vote when they arrive on Grounds,” Brandon said. “This will pertain to all elections. Local and state elections are just as important, if not more important, than the presidential election.”

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