My service hours were conducted through the school’s Politicos club, of which I have been a member since the beginning of the year. Most of my time spent on community service was in our initial voter registration drive, in which we attempted to help register voters for the November 2nd election. On “Meet the Teacher” night as well as at multiple football games, we asked passersby if they were registered to vote, and if they replied that they were not, we offered to register them. These efforts were relatively successful in that we got a few people at each function; most people were already registered, however. Similarly, we offered information on and showed support for the district override, which was created with the intention of keeping money from the previous tax increase in the hands of the schools. As we asked if people were registered, we also asked if they knew about the override, and then explained the particulars of it if they did not. These combined efforts made up the bulk of my community service in relation to political participation and efficacy, as they both were conducted with the intention of increasing involvement in local government proceedings as well as staying educated about proposed legislation.
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The Acadeca Four, before a varsity football game had started. Our main focus at that game was voter registration, though Kate (whose is taking the picture, and as such isn't seen) did some serious pushing for the override too.
One of the few people we actually managed to register- in what I guess is good for the state, most people were already registered. The only issue is that wasn't so good for us, since it meant we registered about 2 people a game.
A lot of people claim that registering is "too much of a hassle" or would take too long, or some other excuse. But as this picture shows, our problem wasn't the registration itself, which went quite smoothly; the issue was getting enough light so that he could see what he was actually writing. Those few who we did register actually went pretty fast.
Kate and I, with her holding one of our plans to lure people into registering- waving flags like maniacs. Ever the vigilant ones, Ty and Taylor are in front of us, still trying to light up that poor guy's registration form.
... Aaaaaand there's Brendon. Exemplifying the "draw in attention" idea of waving flags- though I'm not so sure it actually got us many people wanting to register, so much as just some odd looks...
And to end on a more serious note, this one's of Kate very effectively explaining the override's benefits to people. After asking if they were registered, we went on to ask if they had heard about the override, after which Kate took over and hit them with the basic facts.
