Registering voters while they are young
High School student Brody Hacker uses his phone to pre-register to vote after scanning a special QR code linked to the Secretary of State website. League of Women Voters and Student Council members teamed up to promoting voter registration at the high school, Tuesday.
LWV member Theresa Keaveny shows Abigal Rathmann how to pre-register to vote on National Voter Registration Day. Rathmann said it took less than five minutes to do and now when she turns 18, she will be automatically registered to vote.
High School student Brody Hacker uses his phone to pre-register to vote after scanning a special QR code linked to the Secretary of State website. League of Women Voters and Student Council members teamed up to promoting voter registration at the high school, Tuesday.
LWV member Theresa Keaveny shows Abigal Rathmann how to pre-register to vote on National Voter Registration Day. Rathmann said it took less than five minutes to do and now when she turns 18, she will be automatically registered to vote.
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NEW ULM -- Tuesday was National Voter Registration Day and the New Ulm League of Women Voters was getting the word out at the New Ulm High School.
LWV members Theresa Keaveny and Amanda Groebner, along with members of the high school student council, worked a table during the lunch hour to encourage students to register or pre-register to vote.
In Minnesota, anyone 18 years or older may register to vote, but students can pre-register to vote if they are 16 or 17 years old.
Keaveny explained that if a student pre-registered, when they turn 18 they will automatically be registered as a voter.
This year in Minnesota, new legislation was approved to implement automatic voter registration. Anyone who gets a driver's license in the state is automatically registered to vote unless they opt out of registering. The law also allowed 16 and 17-year-olds to pre-register.
Since the law passed the last session, there are some 16 and 17-year-olds with driver's licenses that missed the automatic registration. Keaveny said they are working to find the students who got their licenses but were not automatically registered.
Groebner said there were also many people who do not get driver's licenses and could be missed by the automatic registration.
The main goal of the registration campaign was to get young people excited about voting. Not every student is able to pre-register to vote. The 15-year-olds will need to wait another year, but LWV wanted to get the students thinking about it now.
Students visiting the registration table could register by paper form or register online. LWV provided a QR code that when scanned, takes students to the online registration form.
Roughly a dozen students went through the registration or pre-registration process during the lunch hour, but many more students asked why they needed to register.
Student council member Abigal Rathmann said she thinks many people her age are interested in voting, but many do not realize that they need to register in advance.
Rathmann pre-registered during the LWV visit to the school using the online website. Rathmann said the entire process took less than five minutes. On her 18th birthday in January, she will be officially registered to vote. This will also allow her to take part in the Feb. 27, 2024 precinct caucuses.
Keaveny said LWV was also hoping to recruit youth election judges. Each year, new election judges are needed. Students 16 and 17 years old can be election judge trainees.
For voter registration and more information on elections, visit the Minnesota Secretary of State at https://www.sos.state.mn.us/elections-voting/ or the Brown County Election Office at https://www.co.brown.mn.us/elections