Forward Montana works to register young voters

Editor’s Note: This version corrects the tax designation of Forward Montana Foundation.

A nonpartisan group that registers students to vote and encourages them to take a more active role in the political process is ending a statewide campus tour this week with a four-day visit to Havre.

Hannah Pate, campus tour manager with Forward Montana Foundation, was at Triple Dog Brewing Co. Wednesday to talk with people about her organization and how people can get more engaged in the political process.

She said students know that elections and legislation have an impact on their lives, but often don't know how to get involved.

Pate said she began the tour in early March. In the tour she has visited students at Flathead Community College in Kalispell, University of Montana Western in Dillon, Montana Tech of the University of Montana in Butte, Helena College and Carroll College in Helena, and Great Falls College Montana State University.

Forward Montana is a 501(c)(3) non-profit with offices in Billings, Bozeman and Missoula, she said.The objective of the tour is to reach out to people on campuses outside the three cities where the group already has a presence.

If young people go to the polls, they can have an impact on elections and the priorities of lawmakers, Pate said.

"Millennials are 30 percent of the voting population, so if millennials got out to vote we could have a huge impact on how elections turn out," she said.

The goal is to register 200 people by the time she leaves Havre and as of Wednesday evening she said that she has already registered 173, including 20 people while she was up at Northern earlier this week.

She said that students at Northern are unusually interested in voting in November's midterm elections this year, but do not know how to get involved.

Pate said that, along with voter registration, she uses the tour as a chance to talk with people about volunteer, internship and political organizing opportunities.

The voter registration form that Pate distributes also has a survey that asks people what issues they most care about.

Pate said, based on her conversations with students, they are most concerned about public lands, education, equality and a lack of affordable housing.

Forward Montana will register anyone without question, Pate said. She doesn't talk about her political views when registering voters but people are free to talk to her about their views.

"I'm just there to register them to vote," she said.

Pate said that there are several questions she gets about voting.

Many students think they cannot register to vote if they pay out-of-state tuition rates, she said.

Many college students are registered to vote but do not re-register when they move to attend college in a new community.

People can legally register to vote in Montana once they have lived in a community for 30 days, she said.

Pate said she has often been asked about whether people who are homeless can register to vote. Homeless people can legally register to vote in Montana and when they do so they should just put the address where they most often reside on the registration form.

Felons can also register to vote in Montana, as long as they are not serving a sentence in a penal institution.

Pate said people who want to register to vote or learn more about other political activities can talk with her in the Student Union Building Ballroom on Northern's campus today and Friday from 8 to 9:30 a.m and 11:30 a.m to 6 p.m.

People can also visit the Forward Montana website at https://forwardmontana.org/.