Local organizations look to encourage young voters to get out and vote

With the California statewide special election approaching on November 4, local organizations' last stretch has been focusing on motivating young eligible voters to cast their votes and informing first-time voters on their voting rights for this election and any other election that they will be participating in moving forward. 

With millions of people soon deciding on Prop 50, which, if passed, will authorize the temporary redrawing of the state’s congressional district maps, many local leaders believe Latino youth will determine the outcome of one of the most important measures in California’s history. 

To ensure young people feel motivated and informed before arriving at the polls in about a week, the Boyle Heights Technology YouthSource Center and Cal State L.A.'s Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs hosted a youth voter awareness event in Boyle Heights last Friday. 

“The vote that is coming up on Proposition 50 is going to define who represents us in Congress and the U.S. House of Representatives and young people will be greatly impacted by those outcomes,” Randi Aho, program director at the Pat Brown Institute, told CALÓ News. 

The Boyle Heights Technology Youth Source Center provides free career training, academic support and life skills for youth ages 14–24, especially those out of school and unemployed. 

The Pat Brown Institute, a nonpartisan organization, fosters community engagement, raises awareness about timely policy issues and brings public officials closer to their constituents. 

Although the institute is part of Cal State LA’s mission to serve as an anchor institution for the region, the organization also operates outside of the school in events such as the one on Friday, which hosted more than 100 attendees, the majority of them youth.  

One of the organizations present at Friday's event was the Los Angeles City Clerk's office, which, amongst other things, manages the registration of all eligible voters in L.A. County and oversees and runs the voting process for most major elections. 

Representatives of the City Clerk's office were present to answer any questions that young people had about voting and also gave a special presentation about who is eligible to vote, as well as set up a mock-voting location for first-time voters to familiarize themselves with the step-by-step process that they will experience come November 4. 

Jamie Minas, civic engagement specialist for the L.A. City Clerk’s office, told CALÓ News that one of their goals in attending voting events like the one on Friday is to inform the community that “voting is not as intimidating as people make it out to be.” 

“I used to be one of the people who were confused about how it would affect my daily life,” Minas said. “There are a lot of matters like street lighting or other things that happen in your community that are affected by the ballot.”                                        

At the event, people were also able to receive voter registration assistance that included information on how to navigate their ballot and what they would need for same-day voting registration, among other things. 

Organizers of the event said assisting young people in learning about their voting rights is not just about casting their vote but also about representation and “obtaining a seat at the table” in California’s future. 

Amy Olide, a student assistant at the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs and community liaison for Boyle Heights Technology YouthSource Center’s Youth Council, said being one of the event’s leads was an important role for her professionally because she’d like to see other students be civically engaged, but it was also a personal matter for her. 

“I was inspired to lead this event by my brother, who just turned 18 and was not interested in registering to vote. It got me thinking, are other 18-year-olds taking this opportunity to vote? What could be discouraging them? Could they be intimidated or nervous to vote?” she said. “I wanted to tackle rooted causes like being uninformed, feeling nervous or being intimidated. Those are valid and realistic reasons why some youth might not want to vote for the first time. I hope that those who attended were able to take something away and leave feeling a little better about their voting rights.”

According to the California Public Policy Institute, Californians who are most likely to vote tend to be white, affluent, college-educated and homeowners. Today, white adults make up 50% of likely voters but only 36% of the California population. 

In contrast, Latino adults are 29% of likely voters and 38% of the population. 

As Californians are asked to approve or disapprove an amendment that would change the shape of congressional districts until 2030, many young people are still undecided. 

This month, the Public Policy Institute of California also reported that adults aged 18–25 constitute 12% of California's registered voters, the smallest age share.

The event on Friday is just one of the many held in proximity to Election Day. One of the major goals of the event is that, regardless of the young people's stance on Prop 50, they do not disregard their civic right to vote. 

As of October 2024, just before the Presidential election, only 14% of California's 16- and 17-year-olds were preregistered to vote, but registration for the youngest voters has only fallen since the November 2024 election. 

The issue of not registering the youngest voters in California is increasingly concerning. As of February 2025, only 12% (126,087) of California's 16- and 17-year-olds were preregistered, leaving many eligible voters to fall through the cracks and miss the elections.

“New young voters are probably the most important kind of voters. It is very important to inform our youth, especially when you look at the research data of how many youth are in the districts of L.A.,” said Julie Hernandez, a student assistant at the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs. “Their vote is very important and worth having at high rates in every election.” 

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If you have already received and filled in your ballot, you can drop off your completed vote-by-mail ballot at any polling place or drop box location in the state. 

You can also mail your ballots as long as they are postmarked no later than November 4 and in "Voter's Choice Act Counties," it's also possible to vote in person or drop off your ballot at a voting center beginning 10 days before the election. 

For this special election, there are voting centers that have been open for early voting since October  25. To find the closest locations for early voting, same-day voter registration and ballot drop-off, click here.