In California, college students are registering to vote in groundbreaking numbers.
According to a news release from California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, 65,000 California college students registered to vote through College Ballot Bowl this election.
College Ballot Bowl is a competition hosted by the California Students Vote Project. California institutions of higher education have partnered with the Secretary of State’s office to promote a democracy that is more inclusive of student voices. The competition consists of registering voters ages 18 to 24. This year 94 campuses registered, including all 23 CSU campuses.
San Jose State industrial technology freshman Natnaiel Yishak said he registered to vote because it’s his civic responsibility and he’s proud to cast his vote this election.
“I think that our age group is known as a voting bloc because we are rarely known to be voting in many of these [elections],” Yishak said. “So it’s a nice change to see that many of us are actually voting in this election.”
Only about 21,000 California college students throughout 2016 registered to vote using the Secretary of State’s online voter registration system, according to an email from Padilla.
However, as of Oct. 24, 2016, there were more than 2.5 million registered voters in California between the ages of 17 and a half-25, according to a report of registration from Padilla’s office. About 110,000 of those voters were registered in Santa Clara County.
“College students are excited and motivated to turn out to vote,” Padilla said in the news release.
According to California College Ballot Bowl, prior to this election, not as many college students registered to vote.
As of Sept. 4, there were almost 200,000 more young voters registered to vote in California in the 2020 election compared to the 2016 election, according to a 2020 report of registration from Padilla’s office.
Public relations sophomore Angelica Cornejo is realizing her vote matters during elections and believes other students are coming to that conclusion too. That’s why she thinks more young people are registering to vote and she’s excited to also exercise that right.
“[Younger Americans are] realizing how much of a privilege it is to vote, or even seeing now, over the news in other countries [that] people are still fighting for their rights,” she said.
Cornejo said that young Americans can make a difference in our community.
“We [younger people] should take advantage of [voting] and realize the importance of it,” she said.
SJSU political science professor Mathew Record agrees that it’s important to express your voice by voting.
“Issues of political identity [and] a political philosophy of who we are as a nation, younger people really tend to respond to the margins [of that thinking],” Record said. “I think that’s why you might be seeing an uptick in the number of people that are registered.”
According to Padilla’s news release, registering to vote is the first step of engaging in the democractic process in America.
California Lt. Gov. Elani Kounalakis expressed her excitement over the increase in youth voter registration.
“Thanks to leadership of students and universities across the state, the California Student Vote Project is making huge progress in encouraging student civic engagement and promoting a democracy that is more inclusive of students,” she said in the news release.
Cornejo hopes her vote will count toward building a better democracy that works for everyone.
“We people want change,” Cornejo said.” We can make change by making our voices heard and voting.”
Yishak said that he hopes his voice will be heard and taken seriously by casting his vote.
“I know last election, there were like 40% of unregistered voters because they thought their voice didn’t matter,” Yishak said.
About 78% of eligible voters in the state registered in 2016, while nearly 85% registered this election , according to the California Secretary of State website.
“I’m really hoping this time, in this election that our voice matters,” Yishak said. “I want to make a change using my vote.”
He also said that younger people have a vested interest in voting and their vote can help change what happens in the future.
“There’s just so much at stake in this election,” Yishak said. “From environmental rights, civil rights and even human rights are all at stake.”
He said that he feels like it’s very important that college students go vote because presidential elections will affect the future of college students.
Cornejo said because of projects like College Ballot Bowl and voter registration speakers who take their time to educate students, she was able to register to vote after seeing a presentation about voting rights in class.
“When you hear from somebody else, especially when you hear the importance of realizing to vote, it sticks with you a little bit more than a five-second ad,” she said.
Cornejo also said that the human connection of having a speaker talk to you about voting rights leaves a real impact.
Political science professor Record advised people not to believe that their vote doesn’t matter.
“If your vote didn’t matter, they wouldn’t be trying to take it from you,” Record said.
