A Local Young Democrats Chapter Starts a New School Year

Eight years ago I walked in to my first Young Democrats meeting at Arizona State University. It was the year 2000 and the ASU Young Democrats were actively campaigning for Al Gore. Last Friday I decided to visit my old chapter and see how their year was starting off and what they were up to.

The meeting began with former Young Democrats of Arizona President Joaquin Rios, now an ASU law student, giving a brief overview of the local political geography entitled Local Politics 101. He explained legislative districts and congressional districts as well as the races that are hotly contested near the university. I thought this was a nice touch, since I have known a number of people that feel overwhelmed when they first get involved because they don't think they know enough about what is going on.

Next was an appearance by Maricopa County Board of Supervisors candidate Ed Hermes, a recent ASU graduate who as a young candidate is the first Democrat to contest this board seat in decades. Ed talked about some of the dynamics of his race as well as an overview of what the Board of Supervisors is and why it is important.

They announced their upcoming events and volunteer opportunities, including the Young Democrats of Arizona Guitar Hero tournament that is one of the state's vote pledge events.

A representative from Congressman Harry Mitchell's re-election campaign concluded the meeting with a brief announcement about the campaign office opening and the volunteer opportunities available.

Following the meeting a number of the members met up at a local pizza place and I had the chance to talk with the chapter's President, Lisa Fernandez, who was also one of Arizona's young delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

I asked Lisa about the number of people that attended their first general meeting. Their first meeting had around 130 attendees, most of which were new to the organization. Most of the new members came to ASU from another state, which led me to ask whether some of them were planning on re-registering in Arizona or voting absentee in their home state. Lisa thinks that most of them will probably vote in their home state, though they have not yet talked to the new members about registering to vote in AZ yet.

There are a few reasons why out-of-state students will probably choose to vote absentee in their home states. First, Arizona is John McCain's home state and students that live in swing states will most likely want to vote there. Second, Arizona passed a proposition a few years ago that requires any person registering to vote in Arizona to have an Arizona-issued drivers license or identification card or to register in person with a number of identification documents such as a utility bill in your name at the address you are registering. Since it costs money and is somewhat of a hassle to get an Arizona drivers license, many students choose to vote in their home states. The proposition makes voter registration campaigns a lot more difficult. I asked Lisa whether she had heard of any registration problems yet and she told me that it is still early in the school year and most people that are thinking about switching their registration to AZ have not attempted to yet.

One of the questions I asked Lisa about, and the one I was most interested in hearing the answer to, was whether the new members were there pretty much solely for Obama or if there was a lot of excitement and activity for local races. Lisa said that Obama is what drove many of the new members to their first meeting, but that once they got there they started getting excited about and involved with the local campaigns. She gave me an example of a canvass the weekend before for the previously mention Ed Hermes campaign which had around 50 young volunteers. That number is pretty amazing for a very down-ticket race. Some other local campaigns I have talked to in the area have also reported pretty great numbers of Young Democrat volunteers for their canvasses, lit drops, and phone banks.

The ASU Young Democrats' first big recruitment effort was having a presence at the ASU Passport event, which takes place in the student union right before the semester starts. The event is where nearly every university club and organization has a table advertising their group for the throngs of freshmen that walk through deciding what activities they want to get involved with in the coming year.

The chapter also has a table on campus Monday through Thursday outside the student union year round with information about the chapter as well as any action items they may be working on, campaign literature for Democratic campaigns, and sign-up sheets for upcoming events.

One of the things the chapter has been effective in doing is bringing new members into the social atmosphere of the organization. When I first joined 8 years ago it was very cliquish and hard to break in to the social aspect of the organization. Because of this, many potential members never came back since there were no friendships built to maintain their interest. This year they have specifically reached out to new members to bring them into the social group and have made a concerted effort to make them feel as welcome and included as possible. This is a great improvement, since enduring memberships come when people make enduring friendships.

That covers my visit with a local Young Democrats chapter. Unfortunately I can't visit chapters and other organization groups across the country, so here is where I need your help. In the comments share your thoughts about how your organization's local chapters are doing. How did the group recruit its new members? What recruitment tactics were most effective? What activities is the group engaged in? We can't learn if you don't share.