Still time to join record number of registered California voters

Nearly 76 percent of people eligible to vote in California are already registered and it’s not too late to join them.

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Juan Andres Villa (in blue, with hat) and Jessica Cohen (in black tank) of Nextgen were on campus helping register students to vote on Sept. 25 in the AH quad. Photo by Nadia Mishkin.

Carla Zuniga, Staff Writer

There is still time to register to vote prior to the upcoming midterm election on Nov. 6. In order to be eligible to vote, registration must be completed before Oct. 22.

There are many ways to register to vote prior to the deadline. The San Diego City College student affairs office in room M-200 is available for students to come in and register to vote.

Another option is through the Student Web Services system. Students can visit REG-e and click on the “Register to Vote” button to complete the voter registration process.

City College also has the direct link https://www.sdcity.edu/RegisterToVote available as another option for voter registration.

City College students can take advantage of any of the possible routes to register and join the millions of Californians who are now eligible voters.

Voter registration is at an all-time high in the state. Many are opting out from being affiliated with either of the two main political parties.

According to the Associated Press, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said that more than 19 million people are now on the voting rolls, adding up to nearly 76 percent of those eligible to vote in the state of California being registered as of Sept. 7.

Paul Mitchell, head of the bipartisan firm Political Data Inc., told the Associated Press that a chunk of the rise of the newly registered Californians is due to a new state program that automatically signs people up at the Department of Motor Vehicles — unless they opt out.

Mitchell suggested that many Californians are rushing through their DMV applications and don’t take the time to fully answer all the questions, leaving their political party affiliation blank, resulting in a high number of unaffiliated voters.

With the record number of people registered to vote in California, lines at the polling locations might be longer than usual.

San Diego voters will have another option than those lines at their regular polling places. Voters can vote by mail.

According to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters, it will start mailing out more than 1.1 million ballots Oct. 8.

On Nov. 6, once election day is here, City College will offer students the opportunity to cast their vote in the P building.