By RYAN CHRISTNER

rchristner@dailynews.net

With just over two weeks until the Nov. 4 general elections, the deadline to register to vote is quickly approaching.

In order to increase the traffic at the polls, a Fort Hays State University organization has coordinated efforts to spread awareness of the Monday deadline and provide registration forms to those not yet eligible to vote.

The American Democracy Project, housed within the Center for Civic Leadership, had a Vote Slam Thursday night at Neighbars Bar and Grill to provide easy access to registration forms and allow potential voters to socialize while enjoying local music.

ADP Event Coordinator Avery Schultz, a sophomore transfer student from Colby Community College, said she became involved in the program because she feels strongly about politics, a trait she said she inherited from her father.

"I just really want to encourage young people to get involved" in voting, she said, "and this is a way to get them to do it."

While news is often made of low voter turnout, Fort Hays political science professor Chapman Rackaway, a director of two projects within ADP and a previous coordinator of the program, said the current election has inspired people to become politically active in numbers he hasn't seen in years.

"I've seen a lot of passion," he said, "and it's out of sincerity of wanting the country to go in a good direction."

Events like the vote slam, he said, give students a chance to act on their political interests.

His one hope, he said, is that voters do not lose their passion come November.

By Schultz's account, the night was a success.

"I'll be happy as long as we get more than one" voter registered, she said.

ADP actually signed up about 20 voters, bringing the total number of new registrants the group has helped through activities this year to 37.

Two of those voters, Derek Settlemyer and Aubrey Bittel, both graphic design majors at FHSU, said they were grateful for the opportunity to get registered, as they believed everybody should get involved in the democratic process.

Bittel, a senior from Kansas City, Kan., said she has had her preferred candidate chosen for a while. "I think the last eight years have been a disaster," she said.

The vote slam was part of ADP's "Be Heard" campaign for voter registration, education and mobilization.

Schultz said she has used a variety of methods to reach out to the unregistered population at FHSU, such as sending school-wide e-mails, littering the campus with fliers and creating groups on the popular social networking Web site Facebook.

Given her inexperience at the position, Schultz said she was sure a greater number of new voters could be gathered for upcoming elections.

"I think we'll do better in the future," she said.

Advanced voting will be available all day Tuesday in the FHSU Memorial Union and will be open to registered voters from all precincts.

As the last step in ADP's voter mobilization effort, the group will be hosting a vote walk -- or vote drive depending on the weather -- Nov. 4 to take voters to the Hays VFW to fill out their ballots.

A "White House party" will take place that evening at the school's Forsyth Library for those wishing to view the live results of the election.