STILL NOT convinced you need to vote? Here’s the deal-breaker: For one, you could win a ticket to a coveted Ateneo-La Salle basketball game this season.
The Ateneo School of Government (ASOG) and the University Athletics Office launched the “One Big Fight! One Big Vote!” raffle contest where five registered voters will be picked to win two Upper Box A tickets each to an Ateneo-La Salle basketball game this August 9.
“We really need to develop creative ways to encourage people to vote because the general sentiment for their indifference…is their hopelessness for the government,” said Arianne Serafico, a member of the Youth Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship unit of the ASOG.
“People get so excited for the UAAP. But for the elections, people don’t really have the same level of interest for it. Why not incorporate the two?” she added.
Students expressed different opinions with regards to the bold project of the ASOG to use the UAAP as encouragement to register for the national elections.
“It’s a good way to encourage people to register to vote, especially those who are great fanatics of the Ateneo-La Salle game. I personally have scheduled a date to register just to be able to join that raffle,” said junior Rene Flores.
However, some feel pessimistic about the said project.
“It is a purposeful incentive to encourage the youth to vote. But it is pretty much subjective because not everyone is actually an avid fan of basketball or the UAAP games for that matter,” said sophomore Patricia Rodriguez.
“And why bring down the level of national elections just to the UAAP?” she added.
But Serafico pointed out explaining the raffle’s rationale, “It’s not that we’re undermining the cause of the national elections.” She said that getting people interested to vote is simply an initial step.
“Hopefully, we’ll have a higher number of registered voters by October 31. Then, we’ll start having education programs for them to realize the value of their right to vote.”
Participants need to be registered voters by August 5. Ateneo students of legal age by May 10, 2010, and graduates from 2005 to 2009 also need to join the promo’s Facebook group to be eligible to join the raffle.
The ASOG hopes that the same passion to watch basketball games will translate to a passion for the elections. “A basketball game lasts for how long, maybe four hours maximum. If we don’t act right now for the elections, that’s six years down the drain. Compare that to just four hours,” Serafico said.
Winners of the raffle would be announced on August 6 in the afternoon.
ASOG has been involved with election awareness programs this year, including the Countdown to 2010 forum—a dialogue with five ‘presidentiables’—in collaboration with the ABS-CBN News Channel.
ASOG will also launch satellite registration booths, texting promos, and fun runs open to everyone to encourage election registration.
