Two fraternities at Tech are jointly launching a voter registration drive, in cognizance of the importance of voter turnout on Feb. 5, commonly referred to as “Super Tuesday” where 22 states (including Georgia) will hold primaries or caucuses.
The fraternities behind the drive are Sigma Beta Rho and Alpha Phi Alpha. The drive has no partisan relationship and is aiming to foster interest in the elections, according to Sigma Beta Rho Service Chair Arun Duraiswamy.
“Our main objective is to provide America a service by promoting election awareness and encouraging people to register, so that they can vote in the upcoming elections,” Duraiswamy said.
The joint voter registration drive is a demonstration of collaboration between Greek organizations in different Greek councils, a concept that was encouraged in a leadership retreat, according to Duraiswamy.
The drive will be held from Feb. 4-7, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., on the ground floor of the Student Center.
“There will be a table with brothers from Sigma Beta Rho and Alpha Phi Alpha to assist people in filling out the forms” Duraiswamy said. “Also, there will be a couple of brothers to oversee the registration drive.”
Duraiswamy added that directional signs would be posted to help students locate the table.
The idea has struck a mostly positive chord with a lot of students.
“The voter registration drive is a great idea. The more people that vote in the upcoming elections the better the democratic process will work” said Jesse Craft, a third-year Aerospace Engineering major
Fourth-year Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering major Caroline Whitaker concurred.
“It’s a good idea. People might not know how to register, or would not take the initiative to register otherwise. This would make their opinion count.”
The movement may also be particularly useful to the out-of-state students at Tech.
“It’s important to hold voter drives at Tech because a large percentage of the student population is from outside the state of Georgia” said Colin McEwen, a second-year Aerospace Engineering major .
“Much of the student body is unaware of the process they must go through in order to vote absentee, so this will help them,” McEwen said.