"SJSU President Don Kassing and San Jose Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez Kick of the 2006 CommUniverCity Day of Service, including the SJSU Political Science Department's Voter Registration Project."

POLITICAL SCIENCE 103/COMMUNIVERCITY

VOTER REGISTRATION PROJECT

SPRING 2006

SUM: 51 students organized by 2 faculty members and 1 teaching assistant worked in teams at 8 fixed sites and going door-to-door in 5 precincts.

• Total hours of service: 318
• Total voters registered: 60 (a 1.5% increase in voter registration in FWBT)

Before going into the community, students collected demographic and voting data on the neighborhoods and read about general patterns of voting behavior in local elections. After the field work, students tabulated the results of the project, reported below:

After a debriefing on the day of service, students wrote reflection papers about their experiences, which were also discussed in a subsequent debriefing in class. The best reflection papers related their experiences to the data and patterns, noting that turnout is generally lower in low income, minority communities where languages other than English predominate and where citizenship is not universal. Many students noted that the most commonly stated reasons for declining to register were that residents said they were currently registered or that they were not citizens. Language was another barrier, with many students unable to communicate in a language other than English.

The students made four recommendations for success in registering voters:

• Location (fixed sites were far more successful than door-to-door registration and some sites were better than others).
• Language (teams should include members who speak Spanish and possibly Vietnamese and Portuguese, depending on location); one group of students “wondered for a while if a person can become a US citizen without knowing English” but almost all the other students recommended that our project and voter materials should be available in multiple languages, including Portuguese.
• Simplify the form (the current form—in very small print—seems bureaucratic, cumbersome and intimidating).
• Teamwork (the groups that registered the most voters worked together).

Future registration projects might be more successful with smaller teams sent to a few carefully selected fixed sites but over a period of four or five weeks rather than all on one day. Unfortunately, this diminishes the sense of community among students as a class.

Here's what some of the students wrote:

An eye-opening and interesting experience. I never realized how many members of the youth in San Jose are willing to volunteer their time to help make the community a better place. The event gave our class an opportunity to experience firsthand what we learn in class about voter participation. Not only that, it gave the students in our class a chance to get to know each other, which probably would not have happened had we not done this event. Very enlightening.

We made a difference. I'm very glad that I got to be a part of this great experience. Although we were only college students we made a difference that Saturday by registering people to vote and we gave them a chance to speak out for what they believe.

The satisfaction of knowing that by devoting a little time, we actually made a difference in this community was very fulfilling. I would want to do this again; it was fun to interact with those who wanted to register. I really liked how we got to use what we learned in the text and apply it in real life. This experience really helped me understand the topics we've covered in class.

Rock the Vote, sort of…. Registering people to vote sounds so simple, but it's not.

Now I have a better understanding of why the amount of registered voters and citizens who vote in the United States is so low… Our primary obstacles were related to language, location and cultural differences. I felt discouraged at the end of the day even though as a group we raised the neighborhood's voter registration by 1.5 percent. I realized how difficult it is to affect disenfranchised communities who may not fully understand their potential as voters.

Voter registration in one word is: tough. Overall, it was an interesting day to get into the community and hear their thoughts and ideas on voting and politics in general. For the group as a whole to get 60 voters in 5 hours is awesome.

I was proud to be part of an event that would help empower the Latino community. For those few hours that we took part in the voter registration process, I was able to touch the lives of over fifty people and make a positive impact on a good portion of them.

Despite how hard it was to get the attention of people around them, the students did a great overall job of exhibiting enthusiasm and dedication to the cause of voter registration. Each of the groups kept their spirits up and as every potential voter makes a difference, our class truly helped the political process.

Although my group registered only one person, I think that the project had some impact in the community not only from the people that were registered, but also by making it known that there as a campaign in progress. The spirit of the event was commendable. Although I am glad that we made a difference, the low registration statistics in that community say a lot about the election system as a whole.

Low voter participation in Five Wound/Brookwood Terrace parallels declining voter participation in American elections generally, but as a low income, minority community with many noncitizens, turnout in these neighborhoods is, not surprisingly, even lower. But at least more residents now have the opportunity to let their voices be heard.

Have you ever been in a place where you were completely surprised? Saturday I was, and it made me see just how many people care about the community they live in. Previously, my idea of community service consisted of picking up trash for some speeding tickets that I couldn't get out of or punishment for inmates. I realize now that volunteers wanting to make a difference in their communities practice service.

All in all, it was an enjoyable afternoon. We learned the deep truth behind the old saying that “anyone who wants to work with the public never has.” It was a very effective illustration of the difficulty of getting people to care about politics and elections enough to get involved. In seeing what we were up against, we figured out where our troubles were and how they can be addressed so nest time our drive is more successful.

At the end of the day when I heard we'd registered around 60 voters, I thought that number was kind of low, but 60 people is a big number when it we consider that only 49% of the residents in that neighborhood [according to the 2006 CUC Survey] are registered. After doing this community service it is clear the difference these neighborhoods could make if they were able to or cared enough to vote.

The biggest problem we encountered was citizenship.

I've taken living in a nice, middle-class neighborhood in Sunnyvale for granted. In my 21 years of existence, I've never made an effort to walk through or hang around the downtown area of San Jose during the daytime. Doing a day of voter registration and trying to reach out to a community very different from what I've been accustomed to has been an eye-opener and challenge for me.

From start to finish, the organized event launched at San Jose High Academy remained energetic and positive with all of the volunteers and participants' enthusiasm. The same cannot be said, however, for some of the local citizens who were encountered by the student and community volunteers. Regardless if our team efforts managed to register only four potential voters, it should be kept in mind that the overall goal was achieved by raising awareness that citizen participation is important.

I've come to understand why votes matter, even if they aren't for the majority or congruent with my political beliefs. Registration of minority voters is extremely important because many laws affect them and they should have a voice to express their concern. The process was productive, but also frustrating and exhausting because we were the people we talked to treated us as irritants.

The class total of around 60 newly registered voters seems small when compared to the power of the rest of the city. Even if it were to add an additional 1% to eligible voters in the district, it still doesn't seem a huge gain. I see a bigger problem in low voter turnout in all elections. It's discouraging to see many people not care about what is happening to them and their community.

An eye-opening experience…. Going door-to-door was very frustrating but some people were helped, and were given the power if they choose to use it, to vote and make a difference.

Voter registration turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected…. We had a unique experience with a soon-to-be citizen who was very excited about becoming a citizen in a month, so we left a registration card with him… We felt good about the four voter registration cards we left for people to fill out on their own, but it is so different when they do it right in front of you. We felt like we had archived a goal so huge, even though it was only one single person. That one person made up for all the rude responses and door-slamming we experienced early in the day.

I entered this project with a cocky attitude, believing it would be easy to get dozens and dozens of people to register to vote. About an hour into the project I realized how difficult it is. The process is difficult for a few reasons: locating qualified, unregistered voters, language, citizenship.

One African-American man said he would register if there was an African-American on the ballot for mayor. We told him there is an African-American on the city council, but that didn't change his mind. This made me realize why many minorities tend not to vote because if they don't have anyone to represent them on the ballot, they feel their vote doesn't matter.

The whole experience was eye opening. It was amazing to see the voting process from its inception. We learned in class that this was a low-income, minority neighborhood where voter registration is low. Our text describes many reasons as to why minorities don't register to vote. [This experience brought that to life.]

When the day finished, I had a sense of accomplishment—if nothing else, we got people in the neighborhood thinking about voting, and even those people were lying about being registered might be a little more likely to register in the future and those who are registered were reminded to vote in the June 6 elections.

Although the fact that it was difficult to get anyone to register was a bit discouraging, it was interesting to be a part of the process and understand how it feels to try to go door-to-door to talk to people about politics. It was also interesting to see the community and city come together to do all the different projects on Saturday. I was glad that we exceeded our goal and got 60 people to register. While 60 people may not seem like a very significant amount, that is 60 more people who might vote in the next election.

As a student in Boulder, I spent about two months walking neighborhoods pitching free window estimates. I was significantly more successful in my first day of window sales than I was in voter registration, partly because the paper work for the window estimates was convenient while people see voter registration and voting as a chore.

I learned two very different lessons from this experience. First, people are insanely lazy. Second, and more importantly, the impending changes in naturalization law can, and will, have a significant impact on future city policy and law making.

We were surprised when several women told us their husbands took care of the political issues around the household.

Our group only got one form filled out. It was discouraging until we received the good news that our class surpassed our registration goal. It was impressive and motivating that we as a group increased the number of registered voters in these neighborhoods by 1.5%. We accomplished a lot. We did our jobs well and we learned not to get too discouraged when people slam a door in your face.

Going door-to-door was not very effective, but this was a really good experience to see how hard political workers try to get their constituents to care and help change laws. It is even harder to help balance things with barriers of class, language and immigration.

I definitely felt how candidates must feel when they try to obtain the support of voters. It's a tough task and one has to be persistent.

At the end of the day, I felt frustrated. The studies and data and news about people not voting had become a reality. But after talking with other students, my faith was semi-restored when I heard that some were able to register more than three people like our group. I will continue to vote and to be an advocate to my family and friends. After this eye-opening activity, it is the least I can do.

As far as Saturday was concerned, it was a frustrating day but a nice way to bond with my fellow students and get to know the community better.

Overall, I think we learned a lot. It was interesting to see the process at work. I can see now why voter turnout is low and more so why the poor and middle class don't get as much attention. The rich and well-off vote and that insures that their interests are taken care of. It's an ugly cycle and I'm not sure we made much difference with our three new voters. Still, three is better than none.