As of Tuesday afternoon, about 3,200 fewer people had registered to vote in Athens County than were registered to vote in 2012, but people around campus were gathering their megaphones and dogs to change that.
While some groups set up tables outside Baker Center or walked around with clipboards to get people registered to vote, others went with more creative tactics to persuade people to register or update their addresses.
Bob Malott, who graduated from Ohio University and has lived in Athens for 29 years, walked up and down Court Street across from Lindley Hall on Monday. He brought his dog, Hensley, who he said is for Hillary because “even a little dog would know better than (to vote for Donald Trump).” He sang his opinions about Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, as people walked by.
“Seventy percent of your college girlfriends are likely to vote for Hillary,” he sang. “Think about the world and your women. If you’re thinking about your girls, and your moms and your sisters, you wouldn’t vote for Donald T.”
Malott had registration forms available to register people and push them to make it to the polls on Election Day.
OU College Democrats set up a table outside of College Green at 9 a.m. Tuesday, 12 hours before the registration deadline. The group has been working to get voters registered since Aug. 7, members said. Last week, they added a megaphone to the mix.
“It makes it so people cannot run away from us,” Sam Miller, president of OU College Democrats and often the holder of the megaphone, said. “It’s funny, and you can be loud and fun. People get into that.”
Miller said she thinks students are waiting until the last minute to register to vote or update their address because of “classic college procrastination.”
“I think they forgot and thought ‘I’m just going to do it later,’ and that affects all of us,” she said. “I think they’re starting to realize ‘I’m registered, but my address isn’t updated,’ so they have to do that too.”
David Parkhill, president of OU College Republicans, said the group has not actively tried to get people in Athens registered.
“We register people at our meetings, but since Athens is so liberal, we let College Democrats do their work,” he said.
In Athens County, 44,651 people had registered to vote as of about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. During the 2012 General Election, there were 47,858 total registered voters, according to the Athens County Board of Elections. The voting registration numbers have not yet been finalized.
Olga Thomas, a clerk at the Athens County Board of Elections, said they received between 500 and 700 registration forms by mid-afternoon Tuesday and were expecting more before the 9 p.m. registration deadline. She said they are trying to get all the forms counted quickly because early voting starts Wednesday.
Stick with The Post for finalized numbers as they are released.
