UF student political organizations are registering students to vote in Florida’s presidential primaries.
In Florida, voters must register with a political party by Feb. 16 in order to vote in the primaries, said Natalia Perez Santos, the director of outreach for UF College Democrats. The organization hosted a training session Monday to teach students how to register others to vote.
“Not a lot of students even know how to register,” said Perez Santos, a UF political science and history junior. “All they have to do is take two minutes to fill out the form.”
College Democrats trained about 10 new volunteers Monday. She said the group registers students on campus to vote while on Turlington Plaza every week Monday to Wednesday.
“We register all people at our table, regardless of party affiliation,” the 20-year-old said. “We like to serve as a resource for the greater community on campus to be politically engaged.”
She said the College Democrats don’t officially endorse a specific candidate for the primaries.
She said the organization registered about 10,000 people to vote in the 2012 presidential election and about 2,000 people for the 2014 midterms, which usually have lower voter turnouts.
“We hope to be able to register just as many as we have in the past,” Perez Santos said.
Richard El-Rassy, the UF College Republicans chairman, said his organization is working with the Republican Party of Florida to register students to vote. He said the organization registers students on campus about twice a month and during events such as debate-watching parties.
El-Rassy, a UF finance sophomore, said he is excited to register students to vote so they can exercise their right to elect leaders who represent students’ values.
“My first official act as chairman was to register all of my executive board members to vote in Alachua County,” the 19-year-old said.
El-Rassy said UF’s College Republicans do not endorse presidential candidates until after the primaries.
“As an organization, we’re not specifically supporting one candidate,” he said.
El-Rassy said the organization polls members to determine which candidate has the most support among students.
“Currently, the Republican that has the largest support from our members is Marco Rubio,” he said.
The candidate with the next largest support among College Republicans was Ted Cruz, followed by Donald Trump, he said. He said despite who wins the primaries, the organization’s goal is to get the best candidate into the presidential office.
“That’s the real driving point behind everything,” El-Rassy said.
Contact Kaitlyn Newberg at knewberg@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @k_newberg.
