The Clark Students For Political Activism Now (SPAN) club held a voter registration drive on Feb. 27 in Foster Hall. They also polled students about their preferred candidates.
    SPAN member and Clark student Kayla Jones said that according to the poll, Obama was in the lead with 26 votes, four voted for Hillary Clinton, five voted for Ron Paul, one voted for Mike Gravel, one voted for Mike Huckabee and nine votes were cast for John McCain. Three of the votes were not counted because participants wrote Mickey Mouse, John Kerry, or listed both Clinton and Obama as their preferred candidates.
    Jones said that SPAN members set up a table with voter registration forms for both Washington and Oregon. She said students were able to fill them out and SPAN mailed them to the appropriate office of the Secretary of State. Jones said that SPAN also polled students for their preferred presidential candidate.
    SPAN President and Clark student Zach Ferguson wrote in an e-mail: “In addition to being a voter registration drive, it was also a quasi-scientific presidential candidates poll. To avoid confusion among the participants, SPAN included a display that detailed the five remaining candidates' positions on the five most important issues (as determined by MSNBC).”
    Ferguson wrote that the voter registration drive was free. He wrote that the purpose for the drive was to raise student awareness politically as well as engage them in the political platforms the presidential candidates endorse.
    “Our paramount goal is to ensure voters make informed, intelligent decisions, and always exercise their right to vote,” Ferguson wrote.
    Ferguson said that students should be involved in politics by knowing who their local and federal candidates are, and by knowing the candidates’ policies.
    “Examine the past eight years of disastrously mismanaged governmental power, and the impending economic crises, and ask students whether they want a continuation of the past eight years' policy (sic),” Ferguson wrote. “This election will affect Clark students because it will determine which civic ideologies our next president will employ.”
    SPAN member and Clark student Sothie Keo said that it’s important to expand political activism. He said that he felt that it was effective for SPAN to conduct a poll to see who students at Clark were voting for. Jones said that SPAN is non-partisan.
    Ferguson said that the deadline for voter registration in Washington ends 30 days prior to the general elections. Jones said that students are able to pick up Washington state voters registration in the Associated Students at Clark College office.
    “I think if students have an opinion, voting is important,” Jones said. “This year’s election is one of the biggest in history.”