Texas has one of the lowest young voter rates in the nation, but some hope that the rediscovery of an old law will change that.

 

By Mia Uhunmwuangho

 

According to a 2014 study by Politifact, only one-third of eligible voters in Texas under the age of 30 voted in the 2012 presidential election. To fight this issue, Austin Independent School District used Senate Bill 142 to implement voter registration programs in all AISD high schools.

 

Implementation of the bill began in October, when all AISD principals received training for the deputy registrar position. SB 142 defines deputy registrars as those who are qualified to register citizens to vote by distributing and collecting voter registration forms.

 

“We hope that this will encourage a district-wide effort to push students to vote,” said Edna Butts, director of intergovernmental relations for AISD.

 

Although a bill passed in June to set clearer training and termination rules for registrars, laws designating high school principals as deputy registrars have been on the books since the 1980s. Butts said that this is the first time AISD has implemented the law.

 

“I think we’re starting to take this law seriously because we see a trend in the lack of participation in young people when it comes to politics,” Butts said. “We realize that a lot of young people may not be voting simply because they don’t want to, but because they may not know how to.”

 

According to researchers at Project Vote Smart, an organization created to provide nonbiased, nonpartisan campaign information to the public, political jargon may be one reason why young people aren’t voting.

 

“We need efforts that will battle against the campaign rhetoric,” said Jace Sternadel, legislative research director at Project Vote Smart. “It’s extremely important to have access to this nonpartisan information.”

 

The need to educate students about politics and voter registration pushed AISD to extend Senate Bill 142 into the classrooms. Butts said that students will receive instruction on voting and how to vote during their senior year in social studies classes.

 

Jessica Joliffe, administrative supervisor of social studies for AISD, said that the curriculum students learn in their social studies classes will not change, but more emphasis will be put on the importance of voting.

 

“One of the activities students can do in their government class is fill out a voter registration card, and do research about candidates and their platforms,” Joliffe said. “We also took out a C-SPAN bus to one of the high schools so students could watch the debates.”

 

Joliffe said that AISD is also in the process of implementing more interactive programs to encourage students to vote. Several of these programs stray away from traditional education methods, and use technology to engage with students. Joliffe said that one of the most promising initiatives is Text to Register.

 

“AISD is going to be one of the first districts to pilot the Travis County Text to Register initiative,” Joliffe said. “This will help make the process of registering to vote a bit more personal.”

 

Former Texas Sen. John Christie and Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector Bruce Elfant launched the free texting system in August as a way to encourage young people to vote.

 

To use the system, residents of Travis County text ‘register’ to the phone number 48683, and immediately receive information on how to a request a voter registration form. The number also texts voters information about where the closest polls are, and reminds registered voters to vote on Election Day.

 

“It’s important that voter registration and voter turnout is high so that elections will reflect the will of the people,” Elfant said. “We want to have 90 percent of eligible voters in the county registered by the next election.”

 

Elfant said that 84 percent of Travis County eligible voters are now registered, and that 24 percent of those registered are under the age of 30. Elfant said that 65,000 more people would need to be registered by October 2016 in order to meet the goal.

 

Bowie High School senior Luz Garcia is one of the students making this goal a reality.

Garcia, who registered via Text to Register, said that the creation of voter registration programs increased her awareness about the importance of voting.

 

“I’m a first generation Mexican-American, so voting always seemed out of my reach,” Garcia said. “Voting was always something that seemed complicated, but being at school and learning about it makes me realize that it’s not scary at all. It made me realize that I have the power to change things.”