The Associated Students Office of Government Affairs reached its goal to collect over 1,000 signed voter registration cards with the help of other groups on campus.

At the beginning of Political Awareness Week, the official count by the office was 600 registration cards, which is less than half of its original goal of 2,500. At the ASI board meeting the office announced that its new goal was 1,000.

Monday marked the last day to mail in voter registration cards, but most groups on campus stopped collecting cards Friday.

The original goal was based on the number of voters collected at other campuses that have programs in place to collect voter registration cards. Sacramento State has no such program.

Robbie Abelon, president of the College Democrats, said that the Office of Government Affairs is planning a program that would register residence hall students upon move-in.

“The best chance we have to get a polling station on campus is to get the dorms registered. I think the program is a great way to help us reach that goal,” Abelon said.

The Black Student Culture Association has been collecting votes at the residence halls and has made it a contest between each building to get the largest number of students registered.

This is the first year that the Office of Government Affairs has counted registration cards collected by other campus organizations. The most active groups have been the Black Student Culture Association, Progressive Students Union, College Republicans, College Democrats, Women’s Resource Center and Campus Peace Action. Some of these groups set up tables in the library quad to make registration convenient for passersby, Abelon said.

People and organizations across the country have been trying to raise awareness among young non-voters who have been apathetic toward politics.

According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, only 9.85 percent of 18 to 24 year olds voted in the 2004 primary election. Swing states have been the biggest target of voter awareness groups. Michigan has registered over 100,000 youth voters this election year.Getting registered voters to the polls is the next step for most organizations.

The College Democrats, led by Abelon, will head to Nevada Oct. 28 to raise awareness among registered voters.