NYC Schools Hold First Ever Mass Voter Registration Drive

NEW YORK, NY — New York City held its first mass student voter registration drive Monday to get teens across the five boroughs ready for this fall's elections. About 110,000 students who will be 18 years old by Election Day on Nov. 6 could register to vote at school as part of the "Student Voter Registration Day."

The drive, part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's "Civics for All" initiative, aimed to empower more teens to go to the polls at a time when student activism is burgeoning across the country around issues such as gun violence.

"Voting allows you to take your values, take your needs, take your interests, take your beliefs and put them into action," de Blasio, a Democrat, told students at Manhattan Hunter Science High School. "And you can’t do that if you’re not registered."

The city sent all schools voter registration forms and a guide with suggested activities for the registration day. Students could also take a "civic engagement pledge" to stay active in public affairs and to encourage their friends and families to get involved.

The registration drive is one piece of de Blasio's push to strengthen voting in New York, which the mayor called "one of the most backward states in the country when it comes to voting laws."

Millions of New Yorkers are eligible to vote but aren't registered, de Blasio said. The state ranked 41st in the nation for voter turnout in the 2016 presidential election, and turnout in last year's mayoral election was also anemic.

The mayor wants school voter registration to be a statewide initiative. He also called for early voting and same-day registration, a policy that's associated with high turnout.

"Now that all of you are further empowered, I want to ask you to help us to spread the word that we've got to fix the voting laws in this state and make voting easier for New Yorkers," de Blasio told students Monday.

In addition to the registration drive, the city's Civics for All initiative includes new civics education curricula and a participatory budgeting program that will let students decide how to spend $2,000 of school funding. Both will start with pilot programs this fall, city officials said.

(Lead image: Photo from Shutterstock)