Lehman Hosts Voter Registration Jam

Students Register to Vote

By Lennin Reyes

The  Bronx Journal Reporter

In honor of National Voter Registration Day on Tuesday, Lehman College joined Hot 97 in hosting a voter registration jam to get young people to vote on November 6, and beyond. According to the organization NYC Votes, “Only 28 percent of New York City residents voted in the 2010 midterm election.”

Actress/Activist Rosario Dawson

The guest of honor at the jam was Rosario Dawson, an actress who co-founded Voto Latino in 2004 to get Latinos to vote in elections. “When we vote, we are writing our own story,” she said. “You guys remember Anne Frank because she wrote her story.”

Lehman speech pathology junior Jesenia Morales, 20, hopes the registration jam will reverse the low turnout among youth. “Many don’t vote because they feel the government isn’t doing enough,”  she said. “I hope the Quad fills up and gets 100 people [to register to vote].”

In addition to the many college students at the jam, there were some younger students in attendance. New York City schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said he hoped voters think about the younger generation. “I met an eight-month-old named Felicity,” the chancellor said. “When you vote, you think of Felicity. Your vote sets up the future.”

Voter Assistance Advisory Chairman Art Chang discussed how social media impacts voters. “It took one man in Tunisia to tell the press and the masses about the government,” he said. “That one man set off riots [across several countries],” he said, referring to the Arab Spring.

Dawson connected social media with another historical figure. “Could you imagine if Martin Luther King was alive? We would be following him on Twitter,” she said. “But we are following him in exercising the right he helped fight for.”