College students tonight can boogie
all night long in pajamas, then do the politically correct thing and
march to the voting booth Thursday morning.
The party: Doors open at 8 p.m. at the Civic Center with free
food and entertainment into the wee hours of the morning. Stepping,
dancing, poetry, acting, video-gaming, etc.
Who's invited: Students from Florida A&M University, Florida
State University and Tallahassee Community College who are
registered to vote. Almost 65,000 students attend the three schools.
The political action: At 7 a.m. Thursday, several thousand
students are expected to march from the Civic Center to the Leon
County Courthouse to cast ballots ahead of Election Day, which is
Tuesday. The elections office is ready for the crowd.
The organizers: "We kind of react when something happens, if
taxes or fees are raised or some big injustice like the Martin Lee
Anderson case. We need to just take advantage of the power we have
and just use it." (Mario Henderson, 19, FAMU student head of
governmental affairs and sophomore in political science and
pre-law.)
"It is something very, very
visible, and it sends a clear message to our Legislature that
students are voting and the issues they're concerned about are
important." (Danyell Shackelford, 22, FSU student-government senator
and English-lit major.)
"It's important that our elected
officials and Florida Legislature know that students vote and they
do care. They need to take into account student issues. . . . I'm
excited, because I was pretty disappointed in the last presidential
election: I couldn't vote." (Maite Garcia, 19, TCC student-body vice
president and political-science major.)
No-shows: Student leaders invited two would-be governors,
Republican Charlie Crist and Democrat Jim Davis, to a local debate.
They didn't respond.
Democrat reporter Jennifer
Jefferson will be blogging from tonight's sleepover and posting
photographs on Tallahassee.com.
