Aaron Johnson – Sports Editor
Music blasting, basketballs bouncing, and laughing from the stands all came from inside of the Pelz Gymnasium on the campus of Southern Connecticut State University during the first NAACP 5 on 5 Basketball Tournament for Voter’s Registration Awareness.
“We just wanted a nice social event to bring people together for voter’s registration because this is a big election coming up,” said Maya Kelly, health care chairwoman for the NAACP chapter on campus. “We wanted to make sure that those who are not registered to vote are able to.”
A total of four different teams comprised of students from Southern ran up and down the court playing for bragging rights, while onlookers were able to watch and register for the upcoming year. Antoinette Badillo, community service chairwoman, said that seeing the amount of students that came out for not only a basketball tournament, but also a chance to be registered to vote was an amazing sight.
“I think it came out well,” she said. “We wanted to get a good body. We wanted to attract more males to come so I think it turned out perfect.”
Kelly echoed the excitement of seeing so many people, especially it being a Sunday evening on campus.
“Also too for students,” Kelly said. “There are a lot of students here. The fact that a lot of students came out on a Sunday especially when you live on campus. A lot of the times it’s like ‘oh I have to walk all the way to Pelz.’ So the fact that people actually came out and took the time to come over here is great.”
During the evening, several tables were set up handing out registration forms, information, and even snacks to students. Eric LaCharity, Associate Director of Student Life was on hand as the event advisor; he said that it was exciting and reassuring to see such a good number of students coming out for an important cause like voter’s registration.
“I think it’s really important,” he said. “Every student should be registered to vote. The fact that the NAACP is out here kind of advocating for that and raising awareness for that is wonderful. For a Sunday evening, football is on and we still have a bunch of people out here playing basketball for a good cause. It’s wonderful.”
Jess Fort, a member of the NAACP, said that while everyone in the NAACP was excited about the turnout for the voter’s registration, they still want to be able to push registration, as well as, knowledge about the elections.
“I think registering is very important,” she said. “But at the same time these are the little things where you can’t just push for voter’s registration. You have to also push to actually be politically intelligent first before you go vote. That’s what we’re trying to do. Yeah it’s cool to register. But you also have to be out there. You have to do your research and just be aware of your surroundings.”
As the night began to wind down and the championship game started, the table of students registering continued to be full. Other members of the NAACP were still active passing around clipboards of registration forms. Badillo also said that the first step after registering to vote is to be aware of the issues, especially for students at Southern.
“I think it’s important because we’re young,” she said. “We need to be aware of what’s going on with the politicians and the laws that are going on. So it’s important because we need to be able to voice our opinions. The laws they make affect us too.”