Students have chance to make opinion count
May 18, 2016
With Election Day fast approaching, there has been a growing buzz around the presidential candidates on social media among young Americans. Despite the popularity of the candidates on the internet, it is anticipated that half of this year’s 18 to 24 year old voters will not take part in the presidential election in November, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
In 2008, over 40 percent of young voters did not register to vote, the lowest in 40 years.
According to the Campus Vote Project, 1.7 million of eligible 18 to 24 year olds said that they were not registered to vote because of missing the deadline to register or not knowing how to.
During the 2012 presidential elections, the number of registered young voters only increased by one percent.
The California primary election is set for June 7, with local, state and the presidential candidates up for consideration.
For any eligible 18 year old, voting begins with registration. Students with a state-issued ID card or a driver’s license can go through the registration process online at www.registertovote.ca.gov up to 15 days before Election Day.
In California, students also have the option of providing the last four digits of their social security number as a valid form of identification.
Students can register and vote under any location considered “home,” such as college or a parent or guardian’s address, as long as residency has not been claimed elsewhere.
After the registration process, students can choose to either vote through mail or in person.
To be a mail-in voter, an application process is needed.
However, once an applicant is approved, a ballot will automatically be mailed to them for future elections, as one becomes a permanent mail-in voter.
A PDF version of the mail-in voter application can be found at www.sos.ca.gov.
After the application is completed, it can be either hand delivered or mailed to the county election’s office up to seven days before Election Day.
After successfully becoming a registered voter, students can locate polling places at www.sos.ca.gov/elections/polling-place.
