Newswise — Sarah Lawrence College senior Neil Makhija returned from his junior year abroad at Oxford where he met some fellow American students passionate about political engagement; together they formed a political action committee in Ohio. Why Ohio? In October 2006, a committee of the Ohio Senate approved a bill (H.B. 234) that fundamentally changed the nature of early voting in Ohio. As a result, any Ohioan can vote early (up to 29 days in advance) in this year's election and avoid the long lines that prevented many voters in Ohio from voting in 2004.
Independently funded, VFH's mission is to educate Ohio voters who do not traditionally participate in elections about absentee and early voting, assist them in the voting process, and track the progress of their votes. Members of the founding team include Marshall, Rhodes, Truman, and Fulbright Scholars, and have extensive experience with political organizing, election administration, and Democratic politics.
VFH rented an office and space in Columbus to house full-time volunteers. According Makhija, "our goal is to boost turnout in low-income urban areas that had long lines in 2004 and not enough voting machines -- the reception has been amazing, especially among single mothers and people working two jobs. We've already signed up 10,700 absentee voters, and registered over 3,000 new voters. By signing up voters for absentee ballots we have the ability to follow up with them. Over 200 Sarah Lawrence students have volunteered to help with this process of calling early voters in Ohio to make sure they received their absentee ballots and file them on time. Some studies have shown that this can boost turnout by up to 7% -enough to swing the election," said Neil.
So far $60,000 has been raised nationally by VFH. Sarah Lawrence College faculty, staff, students and members of the college's board of trustees have contributed to this effort. In addition, refreshments sold on campus during the recent debates raised $1,000 for the organization. The fundraising campaign will continue through Election Day.
While at Oxford, Neil studied computation neuroscience, Internet law and international relations. He returned to Sarah Lawrence this fall to continue his studies in computer science, fiction writing and sociology.
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