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Voter Registration in High Schools
David Carlson, Colorado College
By mandating that all high schools have voter registration orms or eachstudent; and at least one counselor certifed to register voters, disen-ranchised youth will have access to the democratic system.
Mandaing voer regisraion upon graduaion is one poenial hurdle or alreadya risk youh – he demographic ha mos needs access o voer regisraioninormaion. Schools would have he reedom o use heir voer regisraion re-sources however hey see .Wih increasing demands onclass ime and expanding cur-riculum requiremens, schoolsmay be hard pressed o pro-vide voer regisraion inor-maion during regular schoolhours. However, schools couldprovide voer regisraion ormso sudens when hey regiseror classes during junior or se-nior year. Voer regisraionceried counselors, could runregisraion drives beore or a-er classes. Similarly, counselorscould be direced o provideinormaion on regisraion o sudens during normal visis or class regisra-ion, pos-graduaion planning, or oherwise. O hose sudens regisered ovoe, only 13% cied “school” or “campus” as he place o heir regisraion. Sincemany sudens already requireha sudens mee wih counsel-ors a leas once per year, schoolsshould be prepared o educaeis sudens on heir democraicvoing responsibiliy.
History
According o one survey, o 18-29year olds who did no voe in2004, nearly 30% lised “misseddeadline” or “did no know howor where” as heir reason. Despie
Key Facts
Despie numerous sae and naional voer
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regisraion iniiaives aimed a youh voing,he 18-29 demographic sill has he lowesvoer regisraion raes o age groups, wihonly 51% regisered or he 2006 elecioncycle.This disenranchisemen rae or minoriies
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and young populaions is unorunaely high-er, making young minoriies he yeas likelydemographic o be regisered o voe. Ac-cording o Civic Youh, 46% o eligible Blacksand 43% o eligible Lainos ages 18-29 wereregisered o voe in 2006 compared wih54% o heir whie peers.
Talking Points
In order o reach young ciizens, saes
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should enac legislaion ha brings voerregisraion opporuniies o he insiu-ions youh are already required o atend:public high schools.Eigheen year olds should have access
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o voer regisraion inormaion; saesshould see ha all public schools have aleas one counselor ceried o regiservoers (i necessary, depending on hesae) and enough voer regisraion orms(or similar access hereo i saes allowor online voer regisraion).
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