Students Get Ready for DA Vote

(10/13/06 -- DURHAM) (WTVD) -- A Lewis Cheek campaign sign stood prominently Friday outside 610 North Buchanan Blvd. in Durham, home of the infamous Duke lacrosse party.

Those high-profile rape allegations are stirring the political pot in Durham.

"I've been involved in politics. I've been involved in elections before," County Commissioner Cheek said. "But never one quite like this."

Cheek is not seeking the district attorney's seat, but a petition drive landed his name on the November ballot as a candidate. It was in direct opposition to the way District Attorney Mike Nifong has handled the Duke lacrosse rape investigation. Cheek was on Duke's campus Thursday evening for a massive voter registration drive.

"In the past six weeks approximately, we've given out 2,000 blank voter registration forms to Duke students," said Mike Ashe, director of the Durham County Board of Elections. "As of right this moment, we've received about 400."

Wearing lacrosse t-shirts, Duke students tell Eyewitness News they hoped to get a least 1,000 newly registered voters by Friday's registration deadline. They are hoping to make a difference in November's DA race.

The same forms are being passed out on the campus of the alleged victim, N.C. Central University, but without mention of the rape case.

"I haven't wanted to seem as though I'm trying to drum up support for any particular candidate," said Solomon Burnett of NCCU's student government.

According to Durham County Board of Elections records, each campus has about 1,500 students who are registered voters, but with 140,000 registered voters in Durham County, it is hard to say how much the campus registration drives might impact the DA's race.

"Half of the battle is getting people registered," Ashe said. "The other half is getting them out to vote."

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