July 30, 2008
The Democratic Party's "Register for Change" bus rolled into Greenwood Monday to register voters and engage more people in the political process.
The bus is part of the national Democratic Party's push to register voters and increase participation in elections. Used by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama in the primary, the bus is the only one of its kind and has been cruising across the country registering voters as it goes.
Jay Parmley, executive director of the South Carolina Democratic Party, said the bus is in high demand and usually only spends a day at a time in a state, but it is spending two days on its South Carolina tour.
Sunday, the bus made two stops in Anderson, where Parmley said the crew registered 25 people in less than an hour. The bus was scheduled to be in Greenwood until noon on Monday and then wind through the back roads to Greenville for another registration drive at 4 p.m.
"It's about raising awareness," Parmley said. "Driving this big bus gets a lot of attention."
Norval Davis, chairman of the Democratic party for the Third Congressional District, said the party's change platform extends far beyond Obama's campaign. Davis said there are important elections for the Democrats throughout the district.
"I think that it is a civic duty for everyone," said Greenwood Mayor Floyd Nicholson, who faces Greenwood County Councilman Dee Compton for the 10th District state Senate seat. "If they want change, they have got to get out and vote."
Of course, officials at the "Register for Change" event would like to have people register as Democrats, they said, but at the end of the day what is most important is having more people participating in the political process.
"Anything we can do to encourage voter registration is always a step up," said Elaine Gentry, chairwoman of the Greenwood Democratic Party.
According to Greenwood County Voter Registration and Election office, voters must be registered 30 days before the election in order to participate.
"It is a super simple process, but if you aren't registered you can't vote," Parmley said.
