Iowa PIRG In The News

Dan Fechner never has voted, but he knows he should.

"I haven't really gotten into it yet, but it seems pretty easy," the 20-year-old University of Iowa sophomore said.

Walking along the ground level hallway in the Iowa Memorial Union on Tuesday afternoon, Fechner was approached by members of Iowa PIRG. They asked him to register to vote, which he did.

Iowa PIRG, or Public Interest Research Group, is in the midst of a New Voters Project drive. Their immediate target is to register 300 people by Thursday. They will be stationed inside the IMU or in Hubbard Park, weather pending, from noon to 4 p.m. today and Thursday.

They plan to pick up the pace next semester, and by the presidential election in November, they are shooting to register 1,500 people.

"This upcoming election is just huge," said Colleen Delahanty, 22, a UI senior and PIRG campus organizer. "Youth voter turnout is up 300 percent and we want to keep that going to the next election."

Delahanty said the goal is to force politicians to pay more attention to issues that are important to youths, such as college affordability, textbook prices and global warming.

As Delahanty and a few of her fellow volunteers attempted to make their pitch to passing students and get them to fill out a short form, there was a common refrain from the students: "I am already registered."

Delahanty said many registered last year so they could vote on a proposed measure that would have prohibited anyone younger than 21 from being in the bars after 10 p.m. A big student turnout at the polls soundly defeated the proposed ordinance.

Karina Schroeder, 18, a UI freshman, was another volunteer. She thinks it is important that young people weigh in and have their voice recognized, she said.

"I just think it is really important to get involved in politics. Politicians are making decisions that affect us," Schroeder said.

Iowa PIRG is a non-partisan effort aimed at getting as many young people to vote as possible.

"I am more liberal, so I am more focused on Democratic issues, but I just want people to sign up regardless of what party they are in," Schroeder said.