![\"Tapanga](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SAC_1955_Voting_HA_251104.jpg\" "\\"Tapanga")
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Tapanga Tayaba, of Sacramento, drops off her ballot at Folsom Lake College on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025.<\/p>\n
HECTOR AMEZCUA<\/p>\n
hamezcua@sacbee.com<\/p>\n
Recent high school graduate Melenny Andrade said she didn\u2019t know anything about voting as a sophomore.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had no clue what civic engagement really was at the time,\u201d she told The Sacramento Bee.<\/p>\n
But then she began leading enrollment drives with SAY Vote, a group in Santa Ana that trains high schoolers to help their fellow students register or pre-register to vote.<\/p>\n
It was easier to recruit her peers, said Andrade, because she was also a student. Her focus was \u201cjust trying to be as straightforward as possible, while also telling them the benefits of it, for us and for the community,\u201d she said. \u201cOverall, just reminding them that their voice matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
High schools are the best places to reach a wide swath of eligible voters, according to Laura Brill, the founder and CEO of a national nonprofit focused on registering voters while they\u2019re still in school.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is where you can reach everybody, as opposed to just the college kids, or just drivers,\u201d Brill said, referencing other sites where young people get opportunities to sign up. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the perfect places, because you\u2019ve got this on-ramp. Everybody starts out unregistered, and you\u2019ve gotta bring them in.\u201d<\/p>\n
In California, while around 517,000 18-year-olds are eligible to vote every year, about 43% are registered to do so, according to data from Brill\u2019s organization, The Civics Center.<\/a><\/p>\n That\u2019s higher than much of the United States. Across the country, around 4 million Americans turn 18 every year. The Civics Center\u2019s research found that, across 30 states, about 40 percent of those teens are registered.<\/p>\n But California advocates say there\u2019s still room to improve<\/a>, and that the state hasn\u2019t done enough to address the structural challenges that keep students from the voter rolls.<\/p>\n One of the most effective ways to reach young people, Brill said, is pre-registration. The policy allows 16-year-olds in the state to sign up, either online or using a paper application, for automatic enrollment when they turn 18.<\/p>\n But high school students don\u2019t always know about the options available.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the civic side, we have still a pretty abysmal civics education in the U.S.,\u201d said Mindy Romero, the director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy at U.S.C.\u2019s public policy school.<\/p>\n \u201cYoung people really aren\u2019t taught how to vote and why it\u2019s important, and to really feel like it matters,\u201d Romero said.<\/p>\n Loading\u2026<\/p>\n Increasing access through legislation<\/p>\n Since 2024, lawmakers have twice sought to address that lack of education. Now-state Sen. Eloise G\u00f3mez Reyes introduced a bill<\/a>, back when she was an assemblymember, that would have required school boards to provide high school juniors with information about how to preregister properly.<\/p>\n The proposed legislation made it all the way to Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s desk. But he vetoed the bill, citing concerns about creating a new mandate for schools. Such a mandate would have required the state to reimburse local agencies for the cost of implementing the program.<\/p>\n Reyes said young people inspired her to pursue the legislation.<\/p>\n \u201cA group of passionate high school students from my district brought me this idea because they believed their peers deserved a better understanding of how to participate in our democracy,\u201d she told the Bee in an email. \u201cThey weren\u2019t asking for a partisan lesson. They were asking us to make sure every student knows they have a voice.\u201d<\/p>\n Reyes tried again last year, submitting the same bill<\/a> to the California Senate. This time, it died in committee.<\/p>\n \u201cEven though the bill didn\u2019t make it across the finish line, I have never stopped believing in what they were fighting for,\u201d Reyes said. \u201cHigh school is our last opportunity to reach nearly every future voter before adulthood. If we want to build a lifetime of civic participation, we should make it as easy as possible for young people to take that first step by learning about California\u2019s pre-registration process.\u201d<\/p>\n In an emailed statement, the governor\u2019s office said Newsom is committed to expanding voter participation among eligible Californians.<\/p>\n \u201cCalifornia is proud to be a top 15 state when it comes to youth voter participation,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n That statistic is reflected in The Civics Center\u2019s data<\/a>. California beats out most of the country, but is outperformed by several other western states, including Oregon, Colorado and Nevada.<\/p>\n Urban and suburban Northern Californian counties like Marin, Placer and Contra Costa have some of the highest rates, with 57%, 56% and 52% registered, respectively. In Sacramento County, 50% of the county\u2019s 18,591 18-year-olds are registered, the data shows.<\/p>\n The governor\u2019s office also pointed to statutes that support voter education in schools, including a policy allowing for voluntary instruction and a requirement that the secretary of state provide high schools with voter registration forms and notices detailing eligibility requirements.<\/p>\n The power of youth organizing<\/p>\n Young organizers like Melenny Andrade are vital to help fill an education gap, and get high schoolers signed up, researchers say.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen on the outreach mobilization side, peer-to-peer is the most powerful,\u201d said the Center for Inclusive Democracy\u2019s Romero. \u201cA young person that\u2019s similarly situated, with a similar background, talking to their peers, their friends at home and at school, making the case for voting, talking about issues that matter, connecting it to the political and civic infrastructure, that\u2019s the best tool.\u201d<\/p>\n At her school in Santa Ana, Andrade did just that.<\/p>\n More than 100 students pre-registered to vote in her first registration drive, she said. And as a senior, she signed up over 90 of her peers.<\/p>\n It brought in students who weren\u2019t always interested in voting, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the time they\u2019re 18 or trying to vote, they probably think, \u2018oh, you know what? I actually do want to vote.\u2019 So thankfully, they\u2019re already pre-registered,\u201d Andrade said.<\/p>\n Andrade said she\u2019s bringing the lessons she\u2019s learned to Cal State Fullerton, where she\u2019ll study nursing in the fall.<\/p>\n \u201cCivic engagement is overall just important in anyone\u2019s lives, regardless of what it is that you\u2019re majoring in,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I kind of felt like, you know, why not just be a little bit more involved in my community?\u201d<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n
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