Following the voter registration deadline Monday, the Charlottesville Office of Voter Registration is processing the final surge of local residents registering to vote in the November elections. This year, many organizations — both partisan and non-partisan — worked on and around Grounds to register University students to vote.
Sheri Iachetta, general registrar for the Charlottesville Office of Voter Registration, said voter registration has been much greater this year than in past years. Since the deadline for voter registration just recently passed, though, it is hard to predict exactly how many applications the City of Charlottesville has received, Iachetta said.
“We received [more than] 1,300 voter registration applications yesterday,” she said. “We’re going to be processing applications for a week.”
Though the total number of voter registration applications in uncertain at this point, Iachetta estimated that over 4,000 people recently have registered in Charlottesville in order to participate in the upcoming election. It is difficult to determine how many of those people are students registering to vote in the area, Iachetta noted, adding that “there is no way to really estimate the impact of student votes as of right now.”
With volunteers posted in key locations across central Grounds, many organizations tried to make it easy for students to register, said Emily Blakemore, campus coordinator for Democrat Barack Obama’s campaign.
College Republicans Chairman Savanna Rutherford noted that her organization’s efforts included tabling on the Lawn to encourage and remind students to register.
“If you are constantly reminded to vote, you’re less likely to forget and miss the deadline,” she said.
Marta Cook, chair of the non-partisan Voter Registration Coalition and also a former Cavalier Daily Opinion columnist, said 13 organizations, both partisan and non-partisan, have worked together around Grounds to register University students to vote.
“It’s been fantastic,” she said. “There are not many cases that allow disparate groups to come and work together.”
Both Blakemore and Rutherford agreed that groups’ voter registration efforts were rewarded.
Blakemore noted that in registering students to vote, her organization “registered a surprising number of first-time voters.” Many upperclassmen students tended to fill out absentee ballots, while first-year students represented the majority of those who switched to register in Charlottesville, she said.
Iachetta noted that with the increase in the number of registered voters in Charlottesville, voters likely will have to spend more time waiting at the polls.
“They’re going to need to have patience,” she added.
Many University students, though, likely will vote by absentee ballot rather than in person. With the voter registration deadline now in the past, various groups are now turning their attention toward helping students acquire absentee ballots.
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