Seymour Society Participates in Movement To Increase Minority Voter Registration

Several Harvard students are spending this summer trying to convince minorities in Boston to register to vote, as part of a nationwide movement to bolster the number of minorities participating in the selection of public officials.

Members of the Seymour Society, a Black student organization heavily involved with community affairs, said that the canvassing has been very successful, pointing out that Black registration in the city has reached an all-time high recently.

The Seymour Society is working along with Operation Big Vote, in nationwide coalition for Black voter registration, which has chapters in 50 cities, including Boston.

In the past, the percentage of Blacks registering to vote in Boston has been significantly lower than other minority groups because people have been denied permission to set up registration sites in densely populated minority communities. Russell Williams, chairman of Operation Big Vote in Boston, said yesterday.

But now that Blacks constitute more than 30 percent of the population in Boston and a Black candidate is running for mayor, groups like Operation Big Vote and the Seymour Society have gained momentum in encouraging Blacks to register to vote. Similar efforts have been launched in other cities.

Non-Partisan

Because Operation Big Vote is a non-partisan organization. Williams said his group is only encouraging minorities to register, but is not supporting one single candidate. Many political analysts, however, have speculated that increased Black registration would significantly increase the chances of former State Representative Mel King, the Black candidate.

The Seymour Society is one of many groups soliciting people at registration sites throughout the city, Williams said.

Cynthia Silva, president of the Seymour Society, said that the nine members working full-time on the voter registration project also spend time fundraising to pay for their living expenses, as well as for the materials they hand out at the registration sites.

Twenty Volunteers

Twenty other Society members are volunteering part-time, Silva said, adding that the Seymour Society includes Harvard students along with other members of the Cambridge community.

Silvar said that the group will continue can assing. Boston communities--mainly Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury, and the South End--until the September primary, and will hen pick up again before the final elections in October.

Boston Stats

Up until now, voter registration throughout Boston is about the same as the past few years, John Donovan, an official at the Voter Election Registration Center in Boston, said yesterday. He noted, however, "a good marked increase with registration of people in Black communities."

Donovan said that the possible delay of the primary elections--because of a judge's recent ruling that all the newly designated voting districts are invalid--should give canvassers an opportunity to reach even more people.

Operation Big Vote began its registration efforts July 9. Williams said, adding that since then more than 1000 additional Blacks have been registered to vote each week.

Silva said that the Seymour Society will help host Chicago Mayor Harold Washington, who is visiting Boston this Sunday.

Williams called Washington "the symbol of the power of voter registration," and added that he would not have been elected mayor if 250,000 Blacks had not registered to vote in a drive the summer before his election.

Washington's election "is a message clear across the country," that reinforces "the potential power that Blacks can have," added Williams, who works at METCO, which arranges for inner-city Black students to study at suburban high schools