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Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Eagle
WHO’S VOICE IS IT ANYWAY? — Dory Isaacs, Christian Kingston, Bo Hammond, Sami Green, Nate Bronstein, Bharat Krishnan, Carter Gibson and Sara Torneden are all students affiliated with the A Voice 4 U campaign who want to persuade at least 500 students to register to vote in D.C. instead of their home towns. They have distributed about 1,500 voter registration forms so far.

AU students organize to elect one of their own to local government

Campaign aims to register campus residents as D.C. voters for election

An AU student aspiring to serve in public office may be in luck — members of the AU student body have put together a fill-in-the-candidate campaign, complete with manager, campaign finance director and a public relations department.

Now all they need is a candidate.

Student members of groups from across campus — from the College Democrats to the College Republicans, from the Inter-Fraternity Council to the Panhellenic Association and from the Residence Hall Association to the Student Government — have pulled together to create the “A Voice 4 U” campaign. They want to obtain representation for AU students on the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3D, a body that represents AU’s neighborhood within Ward 3.

AU students have not had representation recently on the ANC in which AU lies, and a band of students working in and with A Voice 4 U have decided to find a person to fill this role.

The goal is to get two students on ANC 3D, according to SG President Nate Bronstein and the SG Director of Community Relations Sami Green, who presented the idea for the campaign to student groups Sept. 3, The Eagle previously reported.

Two students could be commissioners on the ANC because the borders of two single member districts within ANC 3D split AU’s campus — SMD 02 and SMD 07.

The commissioner’s seat for SMD 07 has been vacant for years, but residents of SMD 02 have been represented for the past four years by local resident Tom Smith.

AU students are looking to both fill the vacant seat and replace Smith with an AU student from the North side of campus.

Green said Smith has never reached out to students to hear from them. But 75 percent of the people he represents are students, according to Green.

However, Smith said that he has represented students well as ANC commissioner.

Smith has reached out to both SG President Nate Bronstein and former SG President Andy MacCracken to ask for an opportunity to hear from students, he said.

“Unlike anyone who held this seat previously, I have reached out to the student community,” Smith said. “I have initiated conversations with the Student Government president.”

But in order to vote in the election and secure a representative on the ANC, enough students residing in ANC 3D’s single member districts 02 and 07 must file voter registration in D.C.

Once students have registered to vote locally, A Voice 4 U will campaign for the two student candidates to be elected as write-ins on Election Day, Nov. 2.

Click for video of “A Voice 4 U” campaign voter registration

Step 1: Get out the registration

Students ran a voter registration drive Sunday on the North side of AU’s main campus in order to persuade dorm residents to register to vote in D.C. or change their registration from their hometown to D.C.

Since the start of the campaign over 1,500 voter registration forms have been distributed and over 100 have been completed, according to the A Voice 4 U Campaign Manager Bharat Krishnan

There will be at least two more drives before the Nov. 2 elections, according to Bronstein.

The last day for voters to change their registration from their home state to D.C. is Oct. 2. However, new voters can register until Nov. 2.

Both Green and Bronstein would like to see 500 students registered to vote in D.C. in the next few months. Bronstein’s personal goal is to have 200 students registered from North side and 100 from South side.

Bronstein said there are also plans to go door to door in the neighborhoods surrounding campus to encourage residents to write in AU student candidates as well.

More registered voters are needed from North side because the current SMD 02 Commissioner, Smith, will run for re-election in November. The race for the SMD 07 seat covering South side will most likely be unopposed, and AU students make up most of the residents in that district.

In the past, students have been reluctant to change their registration to D.C. because D.C. does not have representation in Congress.

Click for full map.

In order to claim voter registration in D.C., students must maintain residency here for 30 days prior to the election on Nov. 2, according to Alysoun McLaughlin, public affairs manager for the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics.

“For voting purposes ... your residence is wherever you claim your residence to be,” she said.

Students cannot claim multiple residences, however, and must revoke their registration in their home state. There is no limit to the number of times a person can switch their registration into and out of D.C. But registration requirements vary from state to state, and D.C. regulations for switching registration may not necessarily be true in other states.

Carter Gibson, a director of the Greek Life Engagement section of the A Voice 4 U campaign, said that the group will work to help students change their registration back to their home states after the campaign. Gibson is also a Delta Tau Delta brother and vice president of the Inter-fraternity Council.

Note: Poll results are not scientific.

Step 2: Find the candidates

The campaign staff of A Voice 4 U plans to select the two candidates that it will then encourage students to write in the ballot in November.

Students have already approached the campaign staff with interest in running for the positions, but A Voice 4 U will not release names at this time.

Bronstein said he thinks that the right students are people who can clearly understand local issues and hear both AU’s side and the community’s side of things.

The students to represent AU in the capacity of this public office will not be decided by an intra-campus election, according to Krishnan.

The candidates that A Voice 4 U will campaign for will be decided by a group of individuals who have been working closely with A Voice 4 U before and during the process of encouraging voter registration, Krishnan said.

Green and Bronstein have reached out to student groups, and representatives of the A Voice 4 U campaign made presentations to 16 greek chapters Sunday to try and rally the affiliated community.

Gibson said he has never seen the student body so mobilized in his nearly three years on campus.

“AU students want a voice,” he said. “There’s no reason to be quiet the moment you get it.”

Step 3: Get out the vote

The A Voice 4 U campaign plans to campaign both on AU’s campus and in the neighborhood to elect the student candidates as write-ins.

The campaign will be funded based solely on donations from AU students and alumni, according to Ed Levandoski, the finance director of the campaign and treasurer for the Student Government.

The fundraising goal for the campaign for both of the student commissioners is $4,000, Levandoski said.

Funds will go towards signs, water bottles, flyers and other paraphernalia related to promoting the candidates, according to Krishnan.

At least $500 of the campaign’s budget must be allocated to the Public Relations firm A Voice 4 U has hired for the campaign.

The firm, called Eagle Communications, is a student-run firm comprised of members of AU’s chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America. A Voice 4 U and Eagle Communications have an agreement of a $250 payment up front and a $250 payment after the campaign. The two groups are still in the process of agreeing on contracts.

Levandoski said that the fundraising strategy includes a link to a PayPal account on the A Voice 4 U website and Facebook page. Also, Eagle Communications will draft fundraising letters to send to alumni and students.

AU students cannot campaign for A Voice 4 U in the capacity of their roles in campus organizations, nor can they use campus resources to help with the campaign.

As a 501 (c)(3) organization, AU cannot endorse or campaign for a political candidate, and violations of that rule could threaten AU’s tax-exempt status, according to a “Political Activities FAQs” document provided by AU.

The University “may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates,” according to the Internal Revenue Code.

All students involved in the campaign, including Green, Bronstein and Levandoski cannot use any facilities or resources they use as SG officers to help this campaign.

Past difficulties: SMD 07

Green said she has tried to get on the ballot for election to the ANC eight times in the past two years.

In the past, she has run into problems of not being able to gain enough signatures on a petition to get her name on the ballot. Also, the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics has rejected her petition on the basis of various technical grounds, The Eagle previously reported.

Smith said he has tried to help Green gain a seat on ANC 3D in the past.

“I’ve always been very supportive and actually very helpful to Sami in the past when she has expressed interest in running for that seat,” Smith said. “We’ve worked with the D.C. government to try to streamline the process. I’ve even lobbied Mary Cheh [councilwoman for Ward 3] to change the law ... to make it even easier.”

However, Green said that Smith confronted her during her efforts to get on the ballot for ANC 3D, saying that the district was purposely gerrymandered to make the election process less accessible for students.

Smith said this is not true.

“I have been on the record for more than enough times saying that having that seat filled will be incredibly helpful to our ANC and to ensure that there is a student perspective — not from the AU administrators but a student perspective,” Smith said. “So I think [the campaign] is a great thing.”

Smith was involved the last time the district lines were drawn. The specific purpose of SMD 07 is allowing for student representation on the ANC, and the district exists as a result of his efforts, he said.

Previously, representation of the area of AU’s campus was divided between six or seven commissioners from other districts, according to Smith.

Green said she hopes that this year’s campaign can circumvent the obstacles she has faced in the past.

While she can no longer try for the commissioner position because she plans to study abroad in the spring, she has taken an active role in trying to find the AU students to take the positions.

Because this year’s campaign is during the main, two-year election cycle and because the candidate will be a write-in candidate, Green said she hopes that the technical difficulties posed by the petitioning process will not be hurdles.

The campaign is also different this year because it is a more grass-roots effort, and more student groups have come together in support of the common goal, she said.

SMD 02

Smith, the current commissioner for SMD 02, said that he has always thought an AU student should have a seat on ANC 3D, but he is more concerned about having a student on the ANC that doesn’t know the processes of addressing local issues.

“I think that would be helpful for someone who’s interested to actually understand what they’re signing up for,” Smith said.

Though a student should hold the seat for ANC 3D07, Smith said he has worked hard for students as ANC3D 02 commissioner.

Smith reiterated that he has represented students well by reaching out to Student Government presidents.

Bronstein said that he and Smith met for lunch in July, and at that time Smith told Bronstein that he was invested in maintaining communication between them.

Smith also said he was concerned that a student would not understand the local issues that an ANC addresses.

Penny Pagano, AU’s director of community and local relations, said she thinks students will be able to handle the responsibilities of being a commissioner on the ANC.

“I think students are bright enough to figure out city regulations,” Pagano said. “And if not, they will know where to go for help.”

While Pagano is not directly involved with this campaign, she is proud of the students for taking this initiative.

“I don’t plan to be directly involved. This is for the students. It’s their race,” she said.

news@theeagleonline.com


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