Pi Gamma Mu is hosting a voter registration drive Thursday, Oct. 10 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with help from the Wayne County Clerk in the WSC Student Center Atrium.
“Every other year, Pi Gamma Mu has been inviting the Wayne County Clerk to come to campus and set up a table,” PGM advisor Randy Bertolas said. “We guide students to the table to sign up right there to vote if you have your ID.
Students are sometimes nervous since they’ve never registered before and wonder if someone could help them, so that’s why PGM brings in the county clerk.
“You have to be registered in order to participate in the election,” Bertolas said. “Pi Gamma Mu has made it fast, easy and relatively simple to register to vote, and you can feel good about participating in your country’s democracy.”
The voter registration drive is not only for Nebraska citizens. Bertolas said the Wayne County Clerk can provide assistance in obtaining voter registration and mail-in ballots for residents from Iowa, Kansas and Missouri.
If students cannot attend the voter registration drive but still wish to get registered, there are multiple government websites to obtain the same materials.
The official government website for voting is vote.gov. This site shares many voters’ rights including a section for college students.
“This is lots of students’ first election they get to vote in,” Bertolas said. “It’s not just for president, but for congress people, senators and many others right down to the noxious weed control officer, which is a position I’ve often thought of running for.
“If you want to vote, you have to get registered. This is a civic thing, a public service we do for the school.”
Bertolas said there is no political agenda or propaganda. Instead, PGM is passionate about getting students to vote which starts with getting them registered.
“We take the right to vote for granted,” Bertolas said. “There are hundreds of millions of folks in this world who would give anything to be able to vote, but they are not given any candidates.
“The young adult age group votes in the lowest percentage compared to any other age/demographic group, and part of the reason is they don’t get registered,” Bertolas said.
