With the presidential election a little more than five weeks away, UB's College Democrats are aiming to make sure students' interest in politics and voting is more than just a passing fad.
"Voting is very important to us," said Jennifer Gillan, the group's communication director.
According to Gillan, the College Democrats have been focusing much of their recent efforts on getting students registered to vote, both at UB and in the Buffalo community.
"We are reminding people to send in their absentee ballots by Oct. 29, to make sure they get to the polls on Nov. 2," Gillan said. "It is vital college students do this."
College Democrat President Justin Martin said college students across the country should be more interested in one of their most important rights, especially since the young vote is often critical in politics.
"I would say about 40 to 50 percent of UB is really apathetic to politics," Martin said. "I think that can change, especially with this election. We registered about 120 new freshmen, and I think interest is growing."
With the College Democrats entering only their second year as an official club, Martin said his group's simultaneous existence with the College Republicans is a sign of the times.
"The last time a College Democrat group existed on campus was about 1988 or 1989," Martin said. "It seems like the College Democrats and College Republicans alternated existence to go along with whichever viewpoint had motivated students at the time."
This time around, the College Democrats formed to get out a focused Democratic message on campus, club members said.
"In a way, we did form in response to the College Republicans," said Corey Mohr, vice president of the College Democrats. "We thought there needed to be a voice for Democratic political views that was not on campus before."
Martin said that UB's reputation as a liberal campus is well earned based on its history, but that history doesn't translate into a campus dominated by the Democratic Party.
"I don't particularly believe in that theory that the campus is completely liberal," he said. "There are a lot of people who just don't care.
Martin said the College Democrats focus on political issues, rather than social causes.
"There are many groups on campus that triumph the rights and issues we stand for," he said. "We are a political club, not a social rights cause. You won't see us having an affirmative action bake sale."
Club officials said the main goal of the club with the upcoming election is to combat that complacent attitude that removes so many college students political equation.
"We have more voter outreach programs in the works," Gillan said. "We have and we will be going door-to-door in Ellicott to register voters, and educate people on the issues."
Martin added that along with voter registration drives, the club would be active on various campaigns, including the John Kerry campaign, by traveling to battleground states like Ohio and Pennsylvania.
But the prestige of the national election won't sway the College Democrats from also getting involved in local politics, such as the race for Erie County's seat in the House of Representatives.
"This is an important election because it is an uncontested seat," Martin said.
