San Diego City College Associated Students Government executive board members Dalia Ramirez, second from left, and Crystal Cruz, third from left, help register voters at the Presidential Debate Watch Party in MS-162, Sept. 10, 2024. ASG tabling is one aspect of the City College Democracy Challenge. Photo by Vince Outlaw/City Times Media

READY TO VOTE? City College resource provides student voter registration ahead of election

Friendly competition among California colleges aims for more voter knowledge

Vince Outlaw, Multimedia Journalist

October 11, 2024

Registration and voting for the November 2024 election are underway, and San Diego City College Student Affairs Coordinator Lori Oldham is in the right place to help.

“At college campuses, you’re bound to find so many first-time voters,” Oldham said in an interview with CTTV’s Ryan Matthyse. “Typically students are turning 18. They go into college, and then they probably aren’t even thinking about voting.”

Student Affairs is supplying students with the tools they need to register and vote on their Democracy Challenge voter registration page. Additionally, it is participating in on-campus registration events like the recent Community Voter Registration Fair, presidential debate viewing party and the state-wide California Ballot Bowl.

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For student voter registration, Student Affairs’ All In To Vote page provides tools to check your registration and links to register if you haven’t already. The deadline to register online in California is Monday, Oct. 21.

New online registrations started from All In, or directly from here, will be added to City College’s Ballot Bowl totals. The California Ballot Bowl, hosted by the California Secretary of State’s Students Vote Project, is a “friendly competition” among California’s colleges and universities with goals for students including “to become active participants in our democracy.”

As of Oct. 4, City College had registered 62 students to vote, leading the other schools in the San Diego Community College District, according to the California Ballot Bowl campus progress page (search “San Diego”).

Screenshot of the California Ballot Bowl campus progress page showing participating San Diego colleges on Oct. 10, 2024. As of Oct. 4, 62 San Diego City College students have registered, leading other schools in the San Diego Community College District. Image by Vince Outlaw/City Times Media

After online registration closes Oct. 21, those wishing to vote can register in person through election day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, at the Registrar of Voters Office or starting Saturday, Oct. 26 at any voting center using Conditional Voter Registration (CVR). City Times Media provided a primer on CVR for the March 2024 primary election.

Oldham knows that tools like the Democracy Challenge voter registration page require students to take the next step.

“We challenge our students (to register and vote),” Oldham said.

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