By: Neval Mulaomerovic
The Advoc
ate, a c
lub new to this year, held a voter registration drive in the MHS library from Oc
t. 8 to Oc
t. 10, President Rac
hel Wu said. The event registered and pre-registered at least 300 students to vote, Wu said. Students must be 16 or 17 years old to pre-register to vote, and they must be 18 or older to register to vote. Those who pre-register will be eligible to vote onc
e they turn 18 years old. Voting is an easy way to partic
ipate in the politic
al proc
ess, and c
an be less daunting than attending protests and rallies, Wu said.“We dec
ided to organize a voter registration drive bec
ause we felt like it was one of the easiest ways to expose students to politic
al partic
ipation,” Wu said. “When you register to vote, you c
an rec
eive elec
tion related materials or even your ballot in the mail. When we normalize politic
al ac
tivism, we give it the value it deserves as an important tool to c
hec
k bac
k for injustic
es in our soc
iety.”Organizing the drive took a month of planning and c
ontac
ting outside organizations for help. The Santa Clara County Registrar ofVoters provided The Advoc
ate with the voter registration forms and educ
ational materials, Wu said. The Civic
s Center and No Voter LeftBehind, two nationwide c
ivic
engagement nonprofits, also assisted with promotional materials.“I was really pleasantly surprised and thankful for how enthusiastic
both students and teac
hers were about voting,”Wu said. “A lot of students asked us questions about voting or getting involved in our c
lub, and a lot of teac
hers were very supportive and brought their c
lasses to the drive.”Junior Daniel Ly attended the drive with his English c
lass, and wanted to pre-register now instead of waiting until he turns 18 years old. Ly, along with his c
lassmates, rec
eived information about voting and assistanc
e with filling out voter registration forms.“I plan to vote in the next elec
tion when I’m 18 years old,” Ly said. “I c
onsider myself more politic
ally involved than some other people bec
ause I tend to take my own time to researc
h spec
ific
topic
s and delve deeper beyond what soc
ial media tells me. I feel like this is an ac
tual first step to politic
al partic
ipation for everyone.”The Advoc
ate plans to further involve members in projec
ts with The Civic
s Center and No Voter Left Behind to bring more marginalized c
itizens to the polls. The c
lub is interested in hosting more voter registration drives, organizing c
lasses to teac
h immigrants how to vote in their native language, and even lobbying for laws in support of voter’s rights, Wu said.