Action for Change (AFC) held a voter registration drive on April 7 and 8.
The goal of the event is to help students get interested in voting registration, AFC president Jonathan Choi said. The event also rela\
es to the club’s cause and there was added support from outside organizations, he added.
“We are hosting a voter registration drive with the League of Women Voters, hoping to pre-register and also register high school students who are 16 or above,” Choi said. “ I believe that voting is a civic duty, and as a civic education club, that is our mission.
Choi elaborated more on the club’s purpose and what it educates students about.
“So Action for Change is a civic education club, helping to promote engagement to local government, our democratic system, and our voting system to our high schoolers, who may not be as knowledgeable as some other people in our community,” Choi said.
AFC has hosted other events related to civic duties and politics, Choi said.
“So we did host the Q and A session with Assembly Member Alex Lee recently,” Choi said. “We’re also planning to hold more registration drives in the future.”
Volunteer Rosemary Kuhn is a member of the League of Women Voters, she said. Part of her job is helping students with the voting registration process, she said.
“We talk to students about what’s involved, and we help them register,” Kuhn said. “If they want help registering, we answer the questions that they might have. They get a little nervous the first time they register, but it’s really painless. It just takes a couple minutes to have it, and then you’re set, and you can be a voting member of our society.”
Even in the first few minutes of the event, AFC club and MHS students overall demonstrated a positive attitude, Kuhn said.
“It’s only been about five minutes, but it’s been great,” Kuhn said. “We love working with this club, Action for Change. It has been really great and super helpful, and the kids seem really friendly and open. We’ve had a couple people register.”
Volunteer Michelle Fernandez is also a member of the League of Women Voters, she said. Fernandez also explained how AFC reached out to the League of Women Voters.
“Jonathan Choi reached out to us at the League of Women Voters and asked for support in putting together this event,” Fernandez said. “The Action for Change group really spearheaded the effort to put together this event.
Being able to vote allows people to speak for themselves on important political issues, Fernandez said.
“If you do not register to vote, you are letting other people make decisions that affect you and your family,” Fernandez said. “If you care about things like, ‘How clean is our water?’ ‘How clean is our air?’ ‘How affordable is gas?’ school tuition, and rent – then those are things that voting addresses.”
AFC plans to host another drive to help encourage voting registration, Choi said.
“We’re currently in communications with the Registrar of Voters of Santa Clara County to hold a second voter registration drive, probably in late April,” Choi said.
