Oct 6, 2008 11:42 pm US/Eastern
Local College Students Rush To Register
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
CBS 3's Stephanie Abrams found voter registration has
skyrocketed in Philadelphia
County, especially
amongst Democrats. According to the
county board of elections, Philadelphia
has seen an increase of 44-thousand registered Democrats and a decrease in
registered Republicans by three hundred.
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now attributes
that to the youth vote. A.C.O.R.N. says
it's registered more than 85 thousand new voters in Philadelphia, and most of them are under the
age of thirty.
Since today is the last day to register, both parties were
working hard to get out the vote in the Philadelphia
area. Democrats for Obama brought in a
little star power with Actor Josh Lucas, best known for his sweetheart role in Sweet Home Alabama.
He hobnobbed with students at Temple
University this
afternoon, and registered quite a few new voters.
Students were surprised to see a celebrity on campus, and
he says he's impressed with the high interest in this election. "I get the feeling that people sense
something major is going on and they want to be part of it. The youth right now is not at all apathetic,
they're energized. This state is split
down the middle and that's the power and excitement of this whole election
that's about to happen and the madness in the air," said Lucas.
CBS 3 also visited St.
Joseph's University where the young republicans were
registering new voters. Workers from
both campaigns said their goal today was just to get people registered, and
signed up many people from opposite parties.
When we asked students why they waited so long, we got these
responses: "I've just been really busy,
really busy." "I had midterms to get
through." "It wasn't really on my mind
until now, to be honest." Now that
they're registered, the students told us they'll be paying much closer
attention to where the candidates stand on the issues. Although some had already chosen a candidate,
most students we spoke with were still undecided because they hadn't fully
researched both candidates.
The voter registration office in Philadelphia is open until midnight tonight,
but most offices are not open that late.
If you are dropping off your registration form in person, it has to
happen today for your vote to count.
Otherwise, make sure your form is postmarked by today.
Here are some numbers for the registration offices in our
area:
Philadelphia
County 215 686-1500
Delaware
County 610 891-4120
Montgomery
County 610 278-3280
Bucks
County 215 348-6154
Chester
County 610 344-6410
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