From Sept. 16 through 30, high schools throughout San Luis Obispo County will be participating in a competition to get the highest percentage of pre-registered and registered voters from their student body.
“I haven't really engaged much in it, but I feel like this was a great opportunity to do so,” said San Luis Obispo High School senior Trevor Pearson.
Between a partnership with the League of Women’s Voters in San Luis Obispo County (LWVSLO) and the County Clerk-Recorder’s office, the goal is to get more students civically engaged during this election season. The LWVSLO has been "going into the high schools to talk to students about the history of voter registration the importance of one vote and to give them the opportunity to register to vote since 2017," according to LWVSLO Voter Service Director Julie Rodewald.
“The benefit for them is, I think, they're at a very vulnerable age right now where they want to feel like their voices are being heard as well," San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano explained.
Leo Deturris is a senior at SLO High and one of the student ambassadors, along with Pearson, who facilitates registration for their school. He tells me he’s been politically active since 8th grade, explaining that the political process is tedious.
“To get people to want to be engaged for something so polarizing, you really have to convince them that being civically involved is something that is going to matter to our future, not only but also to like the future of how we do stuff around stuff.”
Each school will have the opportunity to pre-register 16- and 17-year-olds and also register 18-year-old students to vote.
“It does look kind of intimidating, but once you sit down and do it, it can only take maybe five minutes," Deturris said of the registration process. “We're trying to get as many people as we can for the competition, as well as just doing it in general.”
Locally, Cal Poly won the Inaugural California University and College Ballot Bowl, beating out all other schools in California for the number of registered voters in 2018. For both the LWVSLO and Cano, the goal is to have that same success for high schoolers in the county.
“It certainly is a goal of mine as the county clerk-recorder to get them more engaged and I think it's working,” Cano said.
“Young people in general are just emerging as a very crucial demographic in elections," Deturris added. "We're making up a larger portion of the population. We swing elections.”
