Non-Partisan Group Seeks To Register Voters At Taste Of Colorado
DENVER (CBS4) - Labor Day marks the traditional end of summer. It's also when people really start tuning into the presidential campaign. Several non-partisan groups were out in force this weekend at the Taste of Colorado helping register people to vote.
The four-day Taste of Colorado festival over Labor Day weekend is one that typically draws about a half million people to downtown Denver where several streets surrounding Civic Center Park are converted into row upon row of vendors, entertainment, food and drink.
The festival also a great venue for various organizations seeking out unregistered voters to try and get them to register before the deadline passes, which is nearly a month away.
"There are a lot of people down here who aren't registered to vote and we're trying to get as many as we can," Nick Harenberg with FieldWorks Denver said.
Jeff Brown is with the Community Voters Project, which focuses to register urban area voters in nine different states, including Colorado. The goal is to register about 150,000 eligible voters in under-represented communities like the Latino and African-American communities.
"We're talking to African- American voters because we believe that our democratic system works best when all people are represented through the polls," Brown said.
Since the spring, staff members have helped about 7,500 people register to vote in the Denver metro area.
Many volunteers and paid staff members with different organizations were infiltrating the crowds and getting people to like Joseph Melvin to register on the spot. He hadn't registered for the election until now. He was discouraged by what he feels he'd be voting for.
"I don't have faith in the fact that they really care about the majority," Melvin said. "I don't like the people who I am given the option to vote for. I don't like any of them."
The people helping with voter registration drivers made a point to say they were non-partisan with a common goal of making sure as many Coloradans as possible will be voting this year, especially as it's one of the states that could help decide the election.
The deadline to register to vote is Tuesday, Oct. 9.
