Several Los Angeles County organizations and USC clubs held an event on Tuesday to encourage informed and active voting for National Voter Registration Day.
Campus clubs such as VoteSC, College Republicans at USC and the Political Student Assembly along with Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s Office lined up on Trousdale to inform students on voter registration and various political candidates and policies.
USC President Carol Folt attended the event to change her registration to allow her to vote in California. Folt stressed the significance of student civic engagement.
“I think it’s so important that students vote,” Folt said. “USC is a school where everyone is talking about sustainability, talking about the planet. If you want to be a part of all those things, you have to vote.”
Sustainability and climate change was a prevalent topic at the event. Jeff Klein, a Los Angeles County official, mentioned how young voters will be impacted the most by voting.
“Young people should vote because they have the most to gain by voting,” Klein said. “They will be the ones inheriting this country, inheriting the earth. There’s a lot of policies that will affect [young people].”
VoteSC, the USC club that organized the event, was active in registering students to vote and informing them about the impact their vote has.
“On college campuses, everyone’s learning how to vote because they’ve never done it before, and if they have, they were at home, so we make the [voting] process easier for students,” said Brianna Miles, a VoteSC member.
Dean Logan, who oversees the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder County Clerk Office, also encouraged voting at the event.
“Voting is one of those things where we’re all equal. We’re a diverse community -- a diverse nation -- but when it comes to casting your vote, we all have equal weight,” Logan said. “But we only have that influence when we show up to cast our vote.”
According to Logan, the largest group of eligible voters are those among the age of 18-25, yet data shows that individuals of that age are the least likely to actually cast their votes in elections.
There are many changes to voting in Los Angeles that will be put in place for next year’s primary elections. The voting process will be digitized, and voters will have more flexibility in where and when they can vote.
The California presidential primary election will be held March 3, 2020. There will be a voting center on USC campus where students can cast their votes.