With the Nov. 5 election quickly approaching, the Vote 2002 Coalition is making its last effort to get students to vote. With student support, politicians will be compelled to pay attention to student issues, organizers said.
Vote 2002 is a nonpartisan coalition of UW-Madison student organizations.
Organizers said in the past they have seen student votes impact the outcome of elections, and they hope to continue this trend.
Pabitra Benjamin, a UW-Madison junior and coordinator of the UW-Madison chapter of United States Student Association and Vote 2002, said the most difficult task of Vote 2002 is trying to register disinterested students.
\Eighteen to 24-year-olds have the lowest voter turnout. We need to get people back in the habit of voting,"" she said. ""[This] is often because that government doesn't influence us to vote ... [or because] many people think that their vote doesn't count.""
In the past, students have played a key role in electing Wisconsin's political leaders, Benjamin said, citing the election of U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison.
""When we go lobby, [Baldwin] listens. [Ron] Greer can do the same thing. If the students make the difference in his election, he will also have more responsibility to listen to us and our issues,"" Benjamin said.
The student-led voting campaign at UW-Madison in 2000 proved successful by getting 70 percent of the campus to vote in the presidential race, according to Jonathan Nook, a UW-Madison sophomore and member of Vote 2002.
Nook said he hopes the majority of students will vote so politicians will work for student issues, such as financial aid.
""Personally, I think that financial aid and tuition caps would be on the radar of politicians if people get out to the polls,"" Nook said.
Students registered to vote by Vote 2002 volunteers will receive a call Monday night from group members reminding them to vote Tuesday. Vote 2002 members will also provide transportation to voters who do not live near the polls, Benjamin said.
According to Nook, the organization will be ""hanging 'reminders-to-vote' door hangers that will have information on the candidates and where polling places are located.\
