Pokes Vote, established by the Associated Students of the University of Wyoming (ASUW), is meant to educate and help students register and vote in elections. There is a Pokes Vote module in WyoCourses for students to access information on this.
“We do not want to sway anyone to any party, but we put our resources on WyoCourses for information and a neutral standpoint,” said Director of Diversity for ASUW Laura Perez.
This can be seen by many students who have looked into Pokes Vote.
“I think being neutral is really important, cause if it was partisan in any way I think like students would be swayed to vote in a way they may not believe,” said freshman Ceejay Berg.
Berg, who also is the student Director of Finances for ASUW, said, “My co-workers and I have been collaborating on this and talking about what an exciting resource it would be for students.”
“I hope with Pokes Vote students will be able to still participate…hope to have students engage with that module,” said Perez.
ASUW sent out a mass email to students to inform them how to register and vote, and give them resources on those topics. Perez said Pokes Vote has seen this necessity and has been mainly targeting freshmen.
Richard Raridon, the program coordinator for Pokes Vote, helped construct the program.
Raridon said it would be a fair assumption to believe there will be an influx of student votes for third parties but that there is no real way to know.
“I would hope that we can increase the total UW student turnout, regardless of party affiliation,” said Raridon.
“Just over 51% of UW students voted in the last presidential election in 2016, and that was an increase of 6.5% over 2012,” said Raridon. “While this is difficult to predict, I think I am being reasonably hopeful in thinking that we could potentially hit 60% (student turnout) this year.”
Already in past election cycles they have seen up to 51% of university students voting in the elections, according to the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement.
More information about Pokes Vote can be found here through WyoCourses and through the ASUW Facebook page.
http://www.uwyo.edu/csil/community-engagement-and-service/slce/community-engagement/pokes-vote.html
