77% of young people in the US don’t vote, which could be an effect of the lack of voter pre-registration in teens. Growing concern has led AVID, ASB, and PTSA to establish a voter pre-registration drive available for students.
“I think it’s a great idea to get the kids registered while they’re here, and thinking about the fact they are getting close to being able to vote. I think it’s a fantastic idea,” said Jamie Gonzalez, who teaches AP US history.
When students get their licenses at the DMV, they have the option to pre-register to vote, but recently the rate of pre-registration in teens has declined.
“I think that so many kids haven’t pre-registered to vote because they are unaware of the options that they have,” said junior Brennan Crisp.
When students don’t pre-register to vote, they may miss out on opportunities to vote. Students are able to vote once they turn 18 but only if they’ve pre-registered to vote beforehand.
“Pre-registering to vote before you turn 18 is a great idea because it makes voting a lot easier and more efficient once you turn 18,” said Crisp.
If students pre-register before they turn 18 and become eligible voters, they have an easier time getting involved.
“Young people have really low voting percentages right now and I think it would be great to get them more involved,” said Gonzalez.
The pre-registration rate as of August 2021 in California as a whole is about 12.94% and Orange County, specifically, is at 14.27%, according to The Civics Center.
“I think it totally matters if young people vote, there’s so many young people and if you guys got together about issues that are important to you. It’s very important where the government gives support and you need to be able to have a say in that. Different issues that often times are important to young people, older people, since its not ‘affecting them’ they don’t care as much about it or vote on those issues,” said Gonzalez
The lack of voter pre-registration in teens causes a lack of young voters, creating issues with youth not being heard. Voting may not seem important to teens leading to their disinterest in starting the process.
“A lot of youth voters are really scared of all the work that has to go into voting,” said Crisp
The voter pre-registration drive not only will help students have an easier time voting once they turn 18, but it also encourages civic engagement among them, which students have said we lack at this school.
“I think the school lacks to encourage civic engagement because I’ve never seen this done before and haven’t heard a lot from the school about the pre-registration drive,” said Crisp.
The efforts the school has made emphasizes the intent to empower another generation of voters. An opportunity to be a part of the democratic process was given to the students through this drive.
