Civics Day appeared on the Raider Walkway Tuesday to inform students of the political parties and their presidential candidates for the upcoming presidential election.
Associated Students of Moorpark College hosts this annual event to stimulate interest amongst students in the politics that govern our country. The goal this year was to educate students on the presidential candidates and their platforms for the upcoming presidential election. In just eight months, American voters will decide which candidate will serve the next four years in the President’s office.
For many students it will be their first visit to a voting booth, and while many coeds may hear political jargon coming from mainstream media coverage of the Democrat and Republican campaigns, the goal of Civics Day according to Andrew Blackwelder, Co-Chair of the Committee of Civics Day is “to show students they have more choices than two parties.”
Information tables were occupied by many political parties, including Democrats, Republicans, Liberals, the Peace and Freedom group, the Freedom and Socialist group.
“We don’t think people are corporations,” said Kate Perl, a senior from Newbury Park High School who volunteered at the event. She was representing “Occupy 805,” or the Occupy Ventura group that has joined the nationwide Occupy Wall Street movement to address the diminishing middle class.
Information tables were open to all political parties and those promoting certain candidates.
“We love Ron Paul,” said Susan Aquino, secretary for the Ventura County Libertarian Party. “I’m libertarian and I’m proud.”
Aquino is dedicating much of her time to promote her candidate of choice, having attended a state convention the day before.
While individual tables were endorsing particular potential candidates, there were enough tables representing a large spectrum of the political opponents so that students could obtain an array of information. The objective was to provide a range of many political parties and the ideologies they follow so that students to can make informative decisions during elections.
In addition to getting information on the current campaigns, students also had the opportunity to register to vote in the upcoming primary and presidential elections. While stopping to register on the Raider Walkway may have been convenient, it is easy to do so online.
