Democrats and Republicans of The Claremont Colleges will host Mobilizing America's Youth (MAY) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 4, near Collins Dining Hall, and at other locations across the Claremont campuses. The goal of MAY is to promote voter turnout among youth, and gather support for Proposition 77's redistricting reform in California.
In a display of bipartisan leadership, students of The Claremont Colleges are reaching across College partisan lines to make known their endorsement of redistricting reform in the state of California. Katherine Kellett '08 (SCR), president of the Republicans of The Claremont Colleges, says the event aims to motivate students to vote and to also show that "no matter the party affiliation, we can join together for good government."
Says Andrew Lee '07, a Claremont democrat, "In California, gerrymandering allows politicians to draw the lines and protect themselves. This is unacceptable even to the college student." Fellow democrat Mike Peel 07 echoed, "College students can't cheat on their exams by choosing the questions, so why should politicians?"
MAY chief operating officer Maya Enista says she is grateful for the support of The Claremont Colleges. She says MAY (http://www.mobilize.org/) has been working "25 hours a day, 8 days a week, to pass Proposition 77, and increase youth voter turnout in the California Special Election."
As an all-partisan organization, MAY is affiliated with Democrats 2020, Republican Youth Majority, and the Green Party of the United States.
The Claremont Colleges are no strangers to redistricting reform. The Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna (http://rose.claremontmckenna.edu/) recently authored a study highlighting the need for redistricting reform in California. In particular, the report finds that Prop. 77, if enacted by voters, is likely to create 10 competitive congressional districts, four new competitive Assembly districts, and seven new competitive State Senate seats.