With the Nov. 7 election only days away, student groups are ratcheting up their efforts to educate and mobilize voters before Rhode Islanders head to the polls. Both the Brown Democrats and the Brown College Republicans are coordinating efforts to support candidates and encourage voting on-campus and throughout Rhode Island - and some are being paid for their efforts.
Students' campaign work has included canvassing, phone-banking, handing out flyers, registering voters and supporting get-out-the-vote efforts to encourage students to go to the polls.
Members of the Dems have been canvassing and phone-banking each weekend since Sept. 23. The group has registered approximately 600 new voters this election cycle, according to Dems President Tor Torantola '08.
The Rhode Island Democratic Party is paying Brown students $50 per day if they volunteer to work at least one five-hour shift. Workers can earn up to $200 during the four final days leading up to Nov. 7.
The Dems have signed up nearly 300 people to work campaigning shifts this weekend and are expecting more to volunteer.
"We have an ongoing relationship with the state party. Last semester we set up a meeting with party officials to work out a plan for our campaign activities," Torantola said.
The Dems have also organized a forum on the statewide ballot initiatives to educate the Brown community about Questions 1, 2 and 9, which Torantola called "the most controversial measures." The questions address, respectively, a constitutional amendment granting the Narragansett Indian tribe and Harrah's Entertainment exclusive rights to construct a casino in West Warwick, voting rights for felons on probation or parole and affordable housing.
"We support all the democrats running" in next week's election, but "we have made major efforts on behalf of Sheldon Whitehouse for the U.S. Senate and (Lt. Gov.) Charles Fogarty in the gubernatorial race," said Dems Vice President Craig Auster '08.
Members of the College Republicans, meanwhile, have been working for the campaign offices of Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., '75 and Gov. Don Carcieri '65 every weekend this fall, according to Zack Drew '07, president of the College Republicans. "We just show up and help them with whatever they need us to do," he said.
For the past two weekends, the Rhode Island Republican Party has been paying Brown students a "pretty lucrative sum" to work on the campaigns, Drew said.
This weekend, the student group will do "either door-to-door get-out-the-vote work or possibly even some phone bank work," Drew said.
Julio Ramos, the community outreach manager for Keep it in Rhode Island, a subsidiary of Rhode Islanders for Jobs and Tax Relief established to support Question 1, said he thinks student involvement is important.
"I think it's especially effective to be encouraged to vote by someone your age - you might be more motivated to vote," Ramos said, adding that he tried to hire Brown students to work for his organization but was unsuccessful.
The Narragannsett Indian Casino campaign is "the biggest campaign in the state in terms of the number of people working on it and its financial backing," Ramos said.
