Young people register to vote at UTPB

UTPB sophomore and Young Democrats executive director Gavin Norris is passionate about getting younger people to vote. 

"We are the swing vote, so our vote will especially matter this year," Norris said.

The Young Democrats joined hands with other clubs, Invisible Children, Sociology Club and the Young Republicans to complete their mission of registering as many young voters as they could at UTPB. 

Each club took a day to run the registration tables pushing their own initiatives to every newly registered voter - Invisible Children was able to raise money for their Schools for Schools program while registering voters.

Norris said younger demographics have higher voter apathy, but once people register it empowers them to go out and vote.

"We registered 125 students and staff during the four-day registration drive," Norris wrote in an e-mail.

But that's not all. Norris and his team registered 158 in their first voter registration drive, totaling 283 newly registered voters made up of staff and teachers.

"The only way you can create change is by registering people who typically won't. Barbara Graff (an Ector County commissioner) won by a single vote," he said.

Norris said he first got a handful of officers from each club involved to get deputized to vote. He then worked with student council to send out mass e-mails, went into classrooms and set up tables. He said some teachers gave their students extra credit.

"I'd call it very successful," Norris said.

DID YOU KNOW?
>> 1972 was the first year citizens 18 and older could vote. That year 50 percent of voters 18 to 24 years old voted.
>> Only 32 percent in the same demographic voted in the last election.