The Student Union's Brandeis Votes campaign started yesterday with 18 clubs competing to register as many new voters as possible by the campaign's end Sept. 23, Student Union President Jason Gray '10 said."In advance of the November election, we decided it was important to mobilize the Brandeis community to be engaged in the electoral process-that includes voter registration and awareness," Gray said.

He said that clubs that are still interested in signing up should contact him.

The Union will provide participating clubs with Massachusetts and national voter registration forms that are valid in all states. Union members are working out details of plans for the Office of Residence Life to help spread information about absentee voting; the Union will also send information to students studying abroad.

At the end of the contest, clubs will be awarded prizes in different categories based on the type and size of the club, Gray said. First-place winners will receive $200, second place-winners will receive $100 and third-place winners will receive $50, Gray said at Sunday's Union Senate Meeting. The money will be transferred to the club's fundraising accounts. The money will come from the Union Executive Board's Project Support Fund with expected co-funding from the Union Senate.

The Union will announce the winners of the contest on Sept. 24 during a Rock the Vote concert event at Brandeis organized by Student Events, Gray said. The event, to take place on the Great Lawn or in the Shapiro Campus Center, will also feature jousting between Democrats and Republicans and a rock wall, according to information provided to Gray by Student Events. Students who register to vote will receive T-shirts and other giveaways.

In partnership with the Office of Communications, the Union plans to organize a panel discussion with Brandeis faculty on Sept. 25 to discuss the job description of the next president of the United States and to what extent the candidates are suited to fill that role, Gray said. The Union and the Office of Communications are still finalizing the participants and are also working on arranging visits by local representatives from the campaigns, as well as a teleconference with national representatives, Union Communications director Jamie Ansorge '09 added at the meeting.

The Union and the Department of Student Activities have planned debate-watching events for the three presidential debates and the one vice presidential debate, starting Sept. 26 in The Stein.

As of Monday, clubs participating in the contest included Women's Ultimate, Comic Book Club, Physics Club, Hillel Theater Group, Students United for Israel, Mountain Club, Brandeis Israel Public Affairs Committee, Adagio Dance Company, Brandeis Republicans, Brandeis Black Student Organization, the Greek Awareness Club, Brandeis Democrats, Democracy for America, the Yoga Club, Sharing Smiles, Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine, the Brandeis Labor Coalition and the Arab Culture Club.

"It's exciting that not just the groups you'd expect to participate are participating," Gray said.

Ariella Silverstein-Tapp '09, co-president of Adagio, said she and co-president Alysha Bedig '09 think the contest would be a good way to "participate in an effort that affects everyone who's part of this country and part of being a citizen."

As the biggest dance group on campus, she said, "we know there's going to be a lot of participation, and we're just going to do our best to make our mark and show people that it is important."

Marti Demobwitz '10, president of the Hillel Theater Group, said she signed up because she wanted to ensure that "it was really a campuswide initiative." She explained that she would be sending out e-mails over the group's listserv and talking to members: "Just because it's a political initiative doesn't mean you have to be a political group to be involved."

Gray said he hopes that on election day the University will run multiple BranVans to the polling place at the Banks School on the corner of Russell and South Streets, as it did during the primary election.

In an earlier interview this semester, Gray explained that the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center does not provide enough parking to accommodate the larger amount of traffic expected for a presidential election as it does for congressional elections.

"The Student Union is in a unique position to coordinate this type of activity and get different parts of the University all working together on something that is both tangible and meaningful," Gray said.