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Campus Liberals Work Double-time
to get out Democrat Vote

By Nerissa Pacio

With the voting deadline just hours away, the Cal Democrats helped scrambling students on the U.C. Berkeley campus find their way to the closest polling stations today and-the volunteers hoped-vote Democratic.

"Get your 'Smart Ass' right here!," yelled Cal Democrats member Jennifer Tse, referring to the U.C. Berkeley student club's voter guide publication. "Don't forget to vote! And if you don't know where to go, we can tell you right here!"

Between classes, students stopped by the Cal Democrats table in bustling Sproul Plaza, asking questions like where they should go to vote, what they needed to bring, and whether it was too late to mail in an absentee ballot.

Members of the Cal Democrats and other students who decided to volunteer just for the afternoon showed students the nearest polling locations on a highlighted Berkeley map and passed out literature on campus in a last-ditch effort to get their peers excited about election day.

"They're going like hotcakes!" said Xav Serrato, a second year political science major who decided to leave class early in order to pass out "Gore Lieberman 2000" stickers. "I've already passed out 500! I'm not a Cal Dem but I shook the president's hand on Friday in Oakland and saw him speak. In the last two days I've been watching the news nonstop learning about the electoral colleges and stuff. I figured I should at least do something to get involved today."

Andrew Hintz, Cal Democrats' vice president of internal affairs, said most students have grown excited about the campaign in the last week because the presidential race is so close. He said that judging from the increase in e-mail to the Cal Democrats Web site, the number of people who have approached him about campaign volunteer opportunities and the higher turnout at the club's latest events, young people care deeply about who wins this election.

But Hintz said that getting out the Democrat vote is not the sole objective of his group.

"Basically we're here to get people to the polls, whether they vote for the Democratic slate or not," Hintz said. "We're trying to educate people on the issues and keep people interested in politics."

Cal Democrats Secretary Mana Barari said she began volunteering 2 1/2 years ago after moving from what she called the conservative Los Angeles suburb of Agoura Hills to the liberal Berkeley campus.

Standing in front of a "Stay out of the Bushes" sign taped to the club's folding table, Barari said she was happy to do actual grassroots work, a big part of her decision to come to Berkeley.

"We actually do things like campaigning instead of sitting around, talking about theoretical political ideologies," said Barari, as she quickly handed out Gore/Lieberman pamphlets to passersby. "If Bush wins, a bunch of us are thinking of moving to Switzerland or Belgium."

Like Hintz, Barari said more students have expressed interest in this year's election because of the tight race.

"I don't think either of the candidates truly makes anyone passionate," said Barari. "Neither of them makes you want to slave and toil for their campaigns. Young people wouldn't care about helping as much or voting if it wasn't such a close race."

First year political science major Ben Spangenberg has campaigned 15 hours this week because he strongly supports Gore's stances on gun control, abortion and social security. Spangenberg said he has been interested in politics since fifth grade, when he first began closely following politics in the news.

"Because it's just so close right now and because I strongly feel Gore is a better candidate, I want to do whatever I can to help him win," said Spangenberg.

Other volunteers, like second year student David Steel, were more interested in local issues. Steel held up the "No on Measure Y" sign from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. today, with the exception of one hour when he attended a class and turned in an essay.

Steel decided to campaign for the first time today after taking a class about affordable housing through the Democratic Education at Cal courses, which are taught by Cal students. Steel said Cal Democrats alumnus Paul Hogarth, who is a candidate for the city of Berkeley rent board, recruited volunteers in the class to campaign against Measure Y, which would allow landlords to evict tenants in order to move in themselves.

"Measure Y stops unfair evictions," said Steel, bobbing the large green sign up and down with one arm. "The landlords don't really move out. Instead, they evict tenants and rent out the places for a higher price to new tenants."

The Cal Democrats were the strongest presence by early afternoon today, with at least six Sproul Plaza volunteers at a time helping hordes of students find the polling locations nearest to their apartments or dorms. The Berkeley College Republicans were not at Sproul at all today.

The Campus Greens were represented by a lone student, Michael Rochmes, who abandoned his folding table to pass out the Green Party of Alameda County's endorsement sheet in front of the student union. He said his group is focusing more on endorsing local candidates who have a good chance of winning, like Oakland City Council candidate Rebecca Kaplan and Berkeley School Board candidate John Selawsky.

"Nader doesn't have a chance, but if he gets five percent of the vote, the Greens will get $13 million in four years of federal funding," said Rochmes, handing leaflets to briskly walking students. "I'm basically here to tell people to remember to vote. Hey, did you vote?"