Groups are working to increase youth voter registration, turnout ahead of elections

The race is on to get Oregon high school students to cast their ballots next month resulting election.

Thanks to the state engine electoral lawthat automatically registers new drivers who are U.S. citizens to vote, and thanks to Oregon’s universal vote-by-mail system, the state has historically achieved one of the nation’s highest turnout rates among young voters, at 36%.

But that leaves a lot of room for improvement – ​​and that’s where Kali Kleven comes into the picture.

Kleven is the vice chair of the University of Oregon’s Oregon State Public Interest Research Group chapter known as OSPIRG and leads their New Voters Project, which aims to register and inform young voters.

She said she was inspired to get involved in youth voting activities after attending a voter registration table operated by OSPIRG on her third day on the University of Oregon campus.

Kleven wants to tackle a problem that has long plagued younger generations. Across the country, young people, defined as ages 18 to 29, traditionally have the lowest voter turnout, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civil Learning and Engagement at Tufts University in Boston.

As Oregonians vote on everything from the presidency to whether the entire state should adopt the proposal a ranked choice voting systemincreasing turnout among young people could have a significant impact on the results on November 5.

New voter Sammy Hopkins, a high school student who attends Clackamas Community College, will cast his ballot in Portland this year. Hopkins said issues like having diverse voices as decision makers and reproductive rights are some of the biggest factors he will consider when choosing candidates. These factors will especially influence his vote in Portland’s mayoral race.

“I think there is definitely a sense of powerlessness among the younger generations,” Hopkins said. “So I think that, at least in my little Portland bubble, this seems to make everyone I know want to vote as soon as possible.”

For Kleven, that powerless feeling is rooted in her generation’s perpetual underrepresentation at the ballot box.

“The youth voice has been underrepresented for a long time,” says Kleven. “(So) elected officials don’t feel like they have to advocate for the issues we care so much about because their re-election won’t be based largely on our votes.”

To address these challenges, Kleven says OSPIRG’s new voter project focuses on “peer-to-peer conversations and advocacy.”

“Coming from someone who’s been through some of the same things in terms of, ‘Hey, we’re both sophomores in college’ (makes voting) a little easier to understand,” she said.

Jasia Mosely, policy manager at the political nonprofit Next Up and its Next Up Action Fund, takes a similar approach when it comes to voter registration and education. She started Next Up’s voter registration program in high school and now oversees the program.

As part of the Next Up program, Mosely is training students across Oregon to lead three-week voter registration and pre-registration campaigns at their high schools.

“We give the young people in that program the opportunity to talk about why they think voting is important,” Mosely said. “We ensure that young people organize themselves peer-to-peer and talk about the power of their voice.”

Sophia Sakaino, a junior at Southridge High School, participated in Next Up’s program last fall. She gave presentations on voting from a youth perspective to several classes at her school.

“I asked them (students) what they thought a changemaker was,” Sakaino said. “Many people think of a radical with a megaphone and a fist in the air, but I wanted to emphasize that change can be brought about by voting.”

Franklin High School senior Victoria Huynh also works with Next Up, as part of the organization’s Youth Action Team and as a board member. Huynh credits Oregon’s motorcycle voter system for registering many of her colleagues to vote. The presentations she leads at Franklin this year focused on educating her colleagues about Portland’s newly implemented voting system and the impact candidates will have on students’ daily lives.

‘An important topic of discussion that I mention is that many of your colleagues cannot vote. And when you vote, you have to look at what the impact would be on your colleagues,” said Hunyh. “When you think about your colleagues, you think about more inclusive thoughts and that is very important when you vote.”

Efforts like these inspired Lakeridge High School senior Chase Merrill to take action in her community.

Merrill organized her school’s first voting event. The event brought together local organizations, including the League of Women Voters and the Lake Oswego Public Library, with students to encourage voter education and registration. Students went from booth to booth learning about things like pre-registration and how to vet candidates.

“I think voting is really overwhelming because there are so many issues,” Merrill said. “The wording can be quite complicated. I think it’s just hard to feel motivated to want to vote or to feel like your vote really matters.”

Merrill’s Voting Fest aimed to simplify the voting system by providing educational resources in a comfortable environment.

“I hope people think that voting can be fun, something you can do and that they come away with a better perspective on voting,” Merrill said.

Some students will have the opportunity to do so in next month’s elections vote about their own future. In the Tigard-Tualatin School District, for example, voters will choose whether to renew a levy initially passed in 2000 and last extended in 2018 that funds 100 additional teachers for the school district.

In Oregon City, voters will decide on a blanket commitment to fund upgrades to all five elementary schools in the district. And the Parkrose School District also hopes voters will approve a levy to raise $3.6 million to $4.1 million a year to fund 28 teachers or other classroom staff.

Additionally, Portlanders will elect a new mayor and city council and use ranked choice voting for the first time. And on a larger scale, the presidential election will impact the future of students in the US

“It is our future,” says Kleven. ‘It’s being voted on. We will have to live with these problems, solutions and issues.”

Youth Voices reporter Emilie Driscoll is a senior at Lakeridge High School. She is an editor and reporter for the Lakeridge Newspacer and plans to pursue a degree in journalism next fall.