Student government wants to see an increase in student voters.

The organization is holding a campus-wide voter registration drive Thursday, Friday and Monday, Sept. 26, 27 and 30.

The event will station election officials at Coleman Hall and the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union, said Marty Ruhaak, student vice president for public affairs.

He said the drive is an attempt to encourage students to register to vote in time for the gubernatorial elections in November. Student government members believe it is especially important for students to vote with the current state budget crisis.

“The student lobbyists (Student Action Team) were asking lobbyists to keep us in mind during budget time,” he said. “They didn’t, because budgets were cut.”

He said interim President Lou Hencken asked the senate to aid in getting several thousand students registered to vote in the upcoming election.

President Hencken pushed for student government involvement with the issue in a report from the President’s Council at the Sept. 11 senate meeting.

“Usually the amount is 50 percent of people that register to vote actually vote,” Ruhaak said.

Student government helped organize a voter drive for the 2000 presidential election.

This year, the drive is organized by student government, University Democrats and the Green Party.

Tonight’s senate meeting will give senate members the chance to be deputized by election officials to allow them to register students at the voter drive.

Times and other places available for students to register during the drive will be announced.

The drive will cover three days to make registration more convenient.

“We’re trying to make (registering) more accessible for everyone,” Ruhaak said.

The final deadline to register to vote in the upcoming election is Oct. 8.

Students can come to the Student Activities office in the union after the drive anytime before the deadline to register, he said.