Students showed their true political colors at last Saturday’s “Dyeing to Vote” in Lydia’s Lounge.
About 250 students attended the event, where they had the opportunity to tie-dye T-shirts and register to vote, Activities Council President Kelly Einbecker said.
“We ended up having to turn people away for tie-dyeing because we ran out of shirts,” she said. “Some people even ended up tie-dyeing their socks.”
Political organizations also presented information on the upcoming elections at the event, which was co-sponsored by ACBU, Alpha Phi Alpha, College Democrats, College Republicans and Campus Greens.
All groups sponsoring the event were happy with the turnout, College Democrats Secretary Kyle McEvilly said.
“Our organization realizes that student awareness in government, especially in an election year, is critical,” he said. “This event sought to combine classic fun with civic duty, and I believe that it achieved both.”
Junior electronic media major Emily Hart said she was surprised at the amount of people in attendance at the event.
Although the purpose of “Dyeing to Vote” was to promote political involvement, some students said they didn’t think the message was as well-promoted as the free shirts.
“I noticed the PowerPoint, but I didn’t really take the time to read it,” junior elementary education major Kristin Reinhardt said. “I do think it’s good to get the word out about the election though, especially since it’s such an important one.”
Einbecker said ACBU’s participation in this event was especially important.
“This isn’t something we are typically involved in,” she said. “A main goal of ACBU is diversity in programming, and this is a very diverse program for us. Politics is a serious thing that people typically avoid, so us making it more appealing is a very good thing.”
And ACBU wasn’t the only organization that thought the night was a success.
“I’d say we had at least 30 students register to vote that night,” McEvilly said. “The event was a resounding success. Students had the opportunity to socialize with friends and, more importantly, the ability to participate in voter registration.”
Hart said she thought having the ability to register to vote was a good idea.
“Although I was already registered to vote, one of my friends registered tonight,” she said.
She also said she thought more awareness could have been raised for the actual purpose of the event.
“I really liked the saying on the shirts, and I will definitely wear mine,” she said. “But I feel they could have been more creative than just using a PowerPoint to display the information about the actual election.”
Einbecker said she was pleased with the way the evening turned out.
“We had a very large number of people show up,” she said. “It was great that so many people were excited about the event. Some even showed up 20 minutes early they were so excited.”
Reinhardt said though she was already registered to vote, she thought raising awareness about students voting is a great cause.
“When we got here, the line was already wrapped around the room,” she said. “It is so good to get the word out about the upcoming historical election.”
