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Pasadena Youth Voter Registration Project Completed
Community May 24, 2018
- Courtesy photo / Lindsey Bieda (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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– Courtesy photo / Lindsey Bieda (CC BY-SA 2.0)
By Staff
The League of Women Voters – Pasadena Area (LWV-PA) has successfully concluded the Youth Voter Registration Project. A group of 35 volunteers staffed over 75 positions at Duarte HS, Monrovia HS, Blair HS, Pasadena HS, Rose City HS, Marshall HS, PCC and ELAC. Some schools gave up class time to host them, some could only give them their lunch hours and others did both.
Duarte, Pasadena, Rose City, Marshall, and Blair gave them in-classroom and lunch break access to students. Depending on the school, classroom presentations covered various topics: youth civic engagement, fake news, history of the League, the work of the League, and the importance of voting. The classroom presentations reached over 200 students and the lunch breaks reached another 300.
Nearly 200 of these students pre-registered to vote. In California, it is now possible for students as young as 16 to pre-register for the vote. On the student’s 18th birthday, the Registrar of Voters, Los Angeles County will notify them that they are officially eligible to vote.
Almost half of the students asked to receive election reminders and ballot information. Students from East Los Angeles College showed the highest interest in receiving voter information from the League. This is encouraging given the hype about the lack of civic engagement among this age group. Many of these students made commitments to vote in the June 5th Primary election to “have my say.”
So what do high school students want to do with their vote? They asked them and here’s what they had to say:
–Marshall Fundamental High School
“. . . choosing the people who will determine what happens . . .”
–Blair High School
“. . . makes things fairer if everyone votes.”
“. . . have our voices heard.”
–Pasadena High School
“. . . so we can change the world.”
“. . . to protect the environment.”
–Duarte High School
“I want to make a difference in the world.”
–Rose City High School
“Your vote is you deciding who’s going to represent you. Some countries don’t have that.”
“. . . to help decide on the laws.”
“We want to protect the environment . . . you vote for the person who’ll protect the environment.”
These comments do not come from single-issue voters. LWV-PA has cause to believe in greater engagement of this new generation of voters. Watch out, by 2020 all of these high school students will be eligible to vote. Everyone needs to jump on the bandwagon or get left behind.
The LWV-PA would like to thank East Los Angeles Foundation and Alumni Association for hosting at the college and Pasadena, Monrovia and Duarte unified school districts for a commitment to their partnership. The Alumni Board members, student advisors, and social science teachers made this drive a success. They have reason to be proud of their work.
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