This post was written by Hatchet Reporter Lindsay Gordon

Although Election Day is finally here, the College Republicans are still avidly trying to capture votes for Sen. John McCain.
The CRs are sending members to the Republican National Headquarters in Arlington, Va. all day until 6 p.m. At the headquarters, students are helping with phone banks, and stop by whenever they have time between classes.

“Campaigning for John McCain has really been a long term commitment, and this is just the final push,” said junior Dan Sadlosky, vice chairman of the College Republicans. “We’ve been going out every weekend, and many of us have been canvassing and making phone calls to get votes for McCain since the summer. We know that Virginia is a major swing state we need to win.”

Phone-banking provides the most efficient contact to voters, which is the main goal throughout these final hours of campaigning, said CR members.

“Every contact with a voter increases their chances of voting, so every single contact is worthwhile because they at least start thinking about voting,” said sophomore Tayler Lofquist, director of membership for the CRs.

The efforts of the CRs to boost voter turnout in support of McCain extend to states around the country. Sadlosky said there are about 45 GW students campaigning nation-wide.

“College Republicans at GW has the largest deployment of people out of state of any chapter in the nation,” he said.

Last Friday, the CRs sent around a dozen students to Colorado, close to 20 students to Ohio and another group to Pennsylvania to boost support for McCain. Like the students helping McCain near campus, GW CRs in other states will also utilize phone banks to swing local support towards McCain up until election polls close.

Sadlosky said, “I have heard that the group in Ohio will have made about 20,000 voter contacts in total through phone banks, knocking on doors, and handing out literature to voters.”