THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY OCTOBER 9, 2008
NEWS
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2008
3A
ELECTION 2008
Groups step up voter registration efforts on campus
BY JESSE TRIMBLE
jtrimble@kansan.com
Jessica Sain-Baird/KANSAN
Gilbert Ng, Hong Kong senior, registers to vote in front of the Kansas Union on Wednesday morning, with help from John Cross, 2008 graduate and volunteer at the table. Cross said about 30 students registered to vote each day at the table, which was sponsored by KU Young Democrats.
The deadline for voter registration forms in the state of Kansas is almost here.
Both groups have been in front of Wescoe Hall to register voters, and have also hosted watch parties for the debates.
KU Young Democrats, College Republicans and the Student Legislative Awareness Board, or SLAB, have all worked to get more students registered to vote and become more politically involved before the Kansas deadline on Oct. 20.
Young Democrats and College Republicans held watch parties for both the presidential debates and the vice presidential debate. The final debate will be Oct. 15 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. Both groups scheduled watch parties.
Andrew Toth, Colby sophomore and president of Young Democrats, said the group worked with the Kansas Democratic Party to sponsor the watch parties at Abe and Jake's Landing, 8 E. 6th St.
"There have been a lot of people showing up so far," Toth said. "Not just young Democrats, but Democrats throughout the community of all ages."
Toth said that he was pleased to see a group of people come together who have similar ideologies.
Tuesday, Jim Slattery, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kansas who is currently running for the U.S. Senate, attended the Young Democrats meeting as its guest of honor and then attended the watch party.
"Jim was excellent." Toth said. "We were extremely fortunate to have him."
Toth said Slattery spoke for a few minutes and then took questions from the audience about his policies.
"He was very personable," Toth said. "It always helps when you can speak to someone face-to-face."
College Republicans has also hosted watch parties in the
Traditions Area on the fourth level of the Kansas Union.
Jesse Vaughn, Mound City senior and president of College Republicans, said so far the turnout for the debates had been good.
"We've had a lot of the same members coming, but new people have been coming, too," Vaughn said. "I'm really excited that new people are interested in joining College Republicans."
Vaughn said more people attended the vice presidential watch party than the watch party for Sen. John
McCain's speech at the national convention earlier this year.
Vaughn said the group had repeatedly discussed the importance of registering voters this close to deadline and said they had plans to set up a table in front of Wescoe Hall on Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
"We wanted to target the best area," Vaughn said. "Wescoe Beach tends to be the area where students congregate."
Vaughn said the group planned to set up tables toward the end of
each week until the deadline for registration.
Toth said Young Democrats had also been planning to get all the students they could who hadn't registered to vote to do so by the deadline.
A table will be set up at Mrs. E's from Oct. 8 until Oct. 20, Toth said. Young Democrats is working with SLAB and will have tables at Mrs. E's from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at GSP and Oliver residence halls.
Mark Maranell, general manager of Mrs. Fs, has been the manager for the last four years and said that while the registration tables tended to cause congestion problems, he said with careful placement it could be avoided.
"And it seems worthwhile." Maranell said.
Maranell said in the past tables had been set up to encourage registration and that he invited both parties to participate because he didn't want to promote any particular candidate or party.
Toth said almost 1,000 students
had been registered to vote so far and that the group was pushing advanced ballot applications, so students could get their ballots mailed directly to their houses.
"Every day we have people approach us and tell us they're so happy that we're still here," Toth said.
On the last day of registration, Toth said Young Democrats would be accepting voter registration forms until 2 p.m.
Edited by Kelsey Hayes
INTERNATIONAL
Russians pull back in South Ossetia
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KARALETI, Georgia — Russian troops pulled back from their positions outside Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia but held their ground in contested areas, setting the stage for more tension between the two countries that waged war in August.
Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told The Associated Press the Russian withdrawal was a positive move, but he added that Georgia wouldn't consider it complete until the troops leave the town of Akhalgori, near South Ossetia, and the Kodori Gorge in another Moscow-backed breakaway province, Abkhazia.
"We think that it's a step in the right direction, but it doesn't mean yet that the withdraw is fulfilled." Utiahiyi said.
Russia maintains that Akhalgori is part of South Ossetia and considers the Kodori Gorge part of Abkhazia — claims that Georgia rejects.
Russian media carried a statement by Gen. Marat Kulakhmetov, who is in charge of Russian troops near South Ossetia, saying the pullout had been fully completed.
Moscow must pull its troops from the buffer zones surrounding the
two regions by Friday under ceasefire agreements brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Earlier Wednesday, Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev said the pullout from areas outside South Ossetia and Abkhazia would be completed by midnight.
Officials at the European Union monitoring mission patrolling the buffer zone refused to comment on the latest controversy over disputed areas.
The head of the EU monitoring mission, Hansjorg Haber, called the Russian pullout as "a very positive development."
"We always proceeded from the assumption that the process would be completed by Friday, and this is confirmation of that assumption." Haber told the AP by telephone, speaking from the buffer zone outside Abkhazia where he watched the Russian pullout.
"Russia is, in fact, starting to comply with the Sept. 8 agreement with the EU," spokesman Sean McCormack said. "It is a positive sign."
In Washington, the State Department welcomed Russia's moves but said it was watching to see if it completed the withdrawals by the deadline.
Despite the dispute, the Russian withdrawal paves the way for the return of Georgian authority to a wide swath of territory held by Moscow since the war.
The war erupted when Georgian forces launched an attack targeting Tskhinvali on Aug. 7 in a bid to take control of the region, which broke away in a war during the early 1990s. Russian troops, tanks and warplanes swiftly repelled the attack and drove deep into Georgia in Moscow's first major military offensive beyond its borders since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Georgians terrified by weeks of arson and looting they blame on Russia's South Ossetian allies lined the roads to watch the withdrawal and welcome returning Georgian police.
As dozens of armored personnel carriers, military trucks and transport vehicles rolled north past rows of destroyed homes, tensions in villages outside South Osetia began to ease.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"It is now important to calm down and at least to give up the confrontational rhetoric," Medvedev said at a conference. "Nothing fatal or irreparable has happened. A new edition of the Cold War is not threatening us."
In France, Medvedev urged the West to leave the crisis over Georgia behind.
The European monitoring mission could not immediately confirm Kulakhmetov's statement that Russian troops had fully withdrawn from six checkpoints outside South Osetia. They would likely be unable to verify the withdrawal until Thursday at the earliest, said a mission spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity because of rules about talking to the media.
"Now I feel safe; I hope that life will improve," said Meri Khokhashvili, standing outside her destroyed home in the village of Kitsnisi. "I've had nightmares for the past week because I was afraid someone would attack us. At least now I can sleep safer."
Russian soldiers sit at armored vehicles as they cross a bridge over the Inugni River as Russian troops pull out from an area outside Georgia's breakaway province of Abkhazia, Wednesday. Moscow must withdraw its troops from buffer zones surrounding the two regions by Friday.
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