If you haven't registered to vote, today's your last chance. Kind of.
Today is the last day to register with voter registration drives. County clerks will accept hand-delivered forms until Friday at 5 p.m. Mailed registration forms, however, must be postmarked by today.
Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron sent out a news release reminding voter registration organizations to deliver all completed applications to the appropriate county clerks.
"It is of the utmost importance that voters are not disenfranchised on Election Day because a group was tardy in turning in applications," she said in the release.
Libby Lawson, a campus organizer for the New Voters Project, said workers scoured their offices over the weekend to make sure no completed registration forms had fallen between the cracks.
The New Voters Project, a nonpartisan group, will
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
make class presentations today. Representatives will be stationed on the east side of the SUB until 3 p.m.
"We're going to stop everything at three so we have time to take them down to the secretary of state's office and the county clerk's office," Lawson said.
If you register on campus, your form will definitely be turned in, she said.
After today, registrants will have to drive to the county clerk's office to deliver registration forms in person before Friday.
The New Voters Project registered 24,500 young people in New Mexico, according to a news release. Lawson said more than 3,000 UNM students registered with the organization since the beginning of the fall semester. Since August, more than 8,000 students signed cards pledging to cast their vote in November.
"If people think they're not going to see our tables anymore, they're wrong," Lawson said. "We want to see young people turn out to vote. We'll be working harder than ever starting Wednesday."
Sydney Henning of the Young Voters Alliance, a group sponsored by the Young Democrats of America, said voter apathy is a vicious cycle.
"Young people don't vote, because politicians don't address their issues," she said. "Politicians don't address their issues, because young people don't vote."
The New Voters Project plans to run transportation from UNM to early voting locations throughout the last week in October.
A mock presidential debate between the College Democrats, the College Republicans and the College Greens is scheduled for Oct. 21 on campus.
The president's office is also looking to set up a mock election on campus with USA Today on Oct. 28, Lawson said.
