"Si se puede (yes we can)."
About 50 ASU students and faculty shouted back at Dolores Huerta during a recent Get Out Her Vote 2004 event on Hayden Lawn.
Participants of the event responded to the power of change Huerta said U.S. citizens could accomplish through voting.
The Feminist Organization at ASU hosted the event, which was geared at registering members of underrepresented groups in the electoral process, particularly young women.
Nearly 10 organizations participated in the event, which featured guest speakers, including Huerta.
Huerta was a founding member of the Community Service Organization, through which she and Cesar Chavez co-founded the United Farm Workers of America, an organization originally dedicated to improving conditions among farm workers in California.
"I think that the big problem is that you have millions of women that are not voting and this is a threat to our democracy," Huerta said. "If people do not vote, our whole democracy is threatened."
According to the Feminist Majority Foundation, women ages 18 to 24 vote less often than any other age group.
Huerta said if citizens don't have control of the government, it would be easy to revert to a dictatorship.
"The only way that you can take control of government in a democracy is by voting, by getting involved, by advocating and by participating in the legislative and the electoral process," she said.
According to the foundation, women currently hold 22.3 percent of state legislative seats nationwide, while they make up 51 percent of the population.
Stephanie Mayer, a psychology senior and women's studies minor said it's important that women start feeling more political and social responsibility.
"We do have control over what happens to our lives through controlling the legislation and the way that you do that is through your vote," she said.
Get Out Her Vote 2004 included about four voter registration booths.
"It's so important to make sure that everybody's voice is heard and that everybody votes," said Sam Holdren, a political science senior.
Holdren said he is very active in promoting gay rights and said he thinks gay rights are similar to issues involving women and minorities.
"All of our issues are related," he said. "And the only way to really effect change is to work together. I wish more people could see that."
Theater junior Marcelino Quinonez said the event was not about being male or female.
"It's about being one; it's about being the same," he said. "We're all humans and it's not right for one person to tell another person how to live their life."
Huerta said the most important day of a person's life is Election Day.
"That is the day that the people that we elect are going to decide how they're going to spend our money; our tax dollars," she said. "They're going to pass laws and make the decisions that are going to affect our life, and the life of our children and the life of our grandchildren."
Reach the reporter at shaina.levee@asu.edu.
