Even a rainy day couldn’t keep the New Voters Project away from its mission — getting students registered to vote.

Thursday, as part of Cultivating Democracy Week, the New Voters Project brought in political figures, including Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, Democratic candidate for District 45, to speak with students on the issues that matter most to them, said Seth Landau, ISU coordinator for the New Voters Project.

The New Voters Project, which is run by the Iowa State Public Interest Research Group, is co-sponsoring Cultivating Democracy Week with the Government of the Student Body and other campus groups.

Cultivating Democracy events have been held all week with the purpose of getting students signed up to vote and urging them to be more involved in the community, said Chelsea Lepley, president of the Iowa State Public Interest Research Group. Thursday’s activities made state and local politicians visible to students so students can be more familiar with who is serving in groups that affect them, Lepley said.

“We’re out here registering lots of voters and having candidates here to speak to students because democracy is more than just casting a ballot,” Lepley said. “It’s about civic engagement.”

Story County Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald and his opponent in the upcoming election, Terry Stark, came to talk to students.

“I just wanted to be seen and be out, to let students at Iowa State know that the sheriff’s office is a part of their life too,” Fitzgerald said.

Other campus groups at Thursday’s event included the ISU College Republicans, ISU Democrats and the Iowa Collegiate Empowerment Coalition.

Coalition member Julanda Brown, junior in child, adult and family services, said her group’s goal of registering voters is similar to the New Voters Project’s, but its efforts are mainly geared toward communities of color.

“This is the first event we’ve been active at,” Brown said. “We know that people of color are underrepresented in voting and acting on issues that concern them. Statistics show these groups don’t come to the polls, and we want to change that.”

She said the coalition was the brainchild of Iowa Secretary of State Chet Culver, and students of color across the state were invited to join earlier this year through e-mails sent by his office.

The coalition was created, Brown said, because voter outreach to students of color is best accomplished through their peers.

Landau said the last event of Cultivating Democracy week, a concert by the Sahara Connection, will be held at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the Boheme, 2900 West St.

He said next week is the last week the New Voters Project will be concentrating on voter registration.

“This is our last public event before we gear up to get out the vote,” Landau said. “We’ll still be registering voters, but then we’ll be concentrating more on voter education.”