With less than two weeks until the November elections, Students for a Fair Wisconsin is preparing to unleash the final blows in its fight against the proposed gay marriage ban.
On Tuesday, in their final meeting before the election, UW Students for a Fair Wisconsin thanked volunteers for past support and stressed the importance of the next 14 days.
Eli Judge, chair of UW Students for a Fair Wisconsin, told the meeting's crowd to get friends to vote, even if it means ""dragging them to the polls.""
In the recent push to ""get out the vote"" on campus, Judge said the group distributed over 80,000 pieces of literature, went through 400 pieces of chalk and wrote dozens of letters to campus newspapers.
Special guest speaker Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz thanked the student organization and outlined three specific problems with the proposed amendment. The mayor said the amendment hurts Wisconsin economically, negates the state's reputation for being traditionally progressive with legislation and is morally wrong.
Cieslewicz said now is the most critical time for volunteers. ""We need people knocking on doors. The ground game is where we're going to win this,"" Cieslewicz said.
The mayor emphasized that the ""ground game"" is how Fair Wisconsin now plans to focus its efforts. UW Students for a Fair Wisconsin asked for approximately 300 volunteers election week to assist in chalking, holding signs up in crowded traffic areas, distributing morning literature to students and helping Fair Wisconsin on election day.
Judge was so adamant on recruiting a pool of volunteers, he jokingly offered a ""free drink"" to any volunteer that happened to run into him at a future party.
The UW Students for a Fair Wisconsin's urgency in ""getting out the no vote"" echoes the statewide efforts of mother group Fair Wisconsin. Fair Wisconsin spokesperson Rachel Strauch-Nelson said the group's current emphasis is on mobilization.
""In these final days before the election, Fair Wisconsin will mobilize thousands and thousands of people to get out the vote. It's going to be an incredible force,"" Strauch-Nelson said.
The might of this force will be tested Nov. 7, when Wisconsin votes on the proposed amendment.
