Wesleyan Democrats' Voter Registration Drive Nets Over 450 Students

For the first time in more than 20 years, a large number of Wesleyan University students have registered to vote in Middletown ahead of the Nov. 8 election, which features a mayoral race many consider a bellwether for Connecticut politics.

Three-term incumbent Republican Mayor Sebastian N. Giuliano is being challenged by Democratic Councilman Dan Drew and Independent candidate Christine Bourne. Drew won the primary in September against then-Democrat Bourne, the longtime city treasurer whose party did not nominate her this year.

As of Wednesday, 452 Wesleyan students registered to vote in Middletown: 249 Independents, 192 Democrats, six Republicans, three Green Party members and two liberals.

In the 2009 general election in Middletown, 36.2 percent of registered voters turned out at the polls — 8,506 individuals, according to the Secretary of the State's office. Drew lost the 2009 mayoral election by just 486 votes to Giuliano, which suggests that the Wesleyan students' votes could make a difference at the polls this year.

The city's municipal elections promise to be among the most closely watched in the state. With eight Democrats and four Republicans on the Council, both parties nominated fresh faces, some new to politics, in hopes of capturing a majority.

Which is exactly what prompted members of the Wesleyan Democrats to knock on doors — in the dorms and throughout off-campus housing — to urge students to register to vote in Middletown, says the group's president, Ben Florsheim, 19, Class of 2014.

“It’s been a priority for us over the last several weeks to get people informed about the election, to ask them to register to vote,” Florsheim said. “We’ve had a good deal of success.”

After six years of Republican leadership, many are wondering if Middletown could see a Democratic mayor elected, much like state voters did when they elected Dannel P. Malloy to be the state's first Democratic governor in 16 years.

Florsheim says Wesleyan Dems made a point of conducting an impartial voter drive.

“We didn’t talk (about) Dan Drew specifically unless a specific question was asked,” he explained. “We said to people, ‘This is an important mayoral election. Your vote, we think, would go further here — it’ll affect your day-to-day life.’”

Giuliano sees a parallel to the city’s 1989 mayoral election  — the last time significant numbers of Wesleyan students turned out at the polls.

“It’s a phenomenon that only happened in 1989 when Democrat Paul Gionfriddo beat three-term mayor Republican Sebastian Garafolo,” Giuliano said. In 1991, Gionfriddo lost to Garafolo.

State Rep. Matthew Lesser, D-100, who attended Wesleyan, said he is pleased when any citizen joins the voting rolls.

"Speaking personally, I think it's wonderful when anybody registers to vote,” Lesser said. “There are a lot of Middletown residents who aren't registered and I always encourage them to do so."

Earlier this month, Florsheim co-authored a piece in the Wesleyan Argus encouraging students to register to vote titled, A Bipartisan Plea: Vote This November.

Florsheim is a sophomore in the College of Social Studies, whose curriculum focuses on economics, government, political and social history and history.

Students were offered a voter-registration card, Florsheim said, that asks if they wish to enroll in a party.

“There definitely was a Democratic majority among those who did choose [a party],” he says.

Drew spoke to the Wesleyan Democrats a few weeks ago, Florsheim said, about ways to improve relations between the university and the city.

“Drew wants to work with students on a downtown initiative and improve bike lanes,” Florsheim said, while acknowledging the "perception that Wesleyan students are overwhelmingly liberal” and musing that the Republicans may think, “if we turned out, it would not be in [the mayor’s] interest.”

Florsheim said a large Wesleyan turnout in a local election depends on students’ attitude toward the relatively small amount of time they spend at the university.

“There is a population here who could not care less,” he said. “They think their time here is very temporary in the grand scheme of things and they don’t want to get involved in politics.”

So he and his 10 to 15 active members of the Wesleyan Dems countered that by saying to students, “You’ll only be here for four years, so what’s to stop you from making a positive impact when you’re here?”

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