Students gathered to register to vote for National Voter Registration Day on Tuesday at Alumni Park, hosted by VoteSC. The event featured organizations from all across the political spectrum that helped students register and encouraged them to participate in the American political process. 

One of the organizations present at the event was Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., whose social justice branch focuses on voter education and registration. During the 2020 presidential election, AKA registered more than 250,000 voters nationwide.

Arija Martin, a junior majoring in international relations, was one of the people staffing the booth and encouraged all students to register. 

“[The] policies and practices that we learned today are affecting our personal lives and the lives of people around them in their communities,” Martin said. “It’s also important [to vote] at local elections, not just the presidential election.”

Aseem Singru, a sophomore majoring in economics, said he sees registering to vote for the 2024 election as a form of deciding the trajectory the country will take during the next four years. 

“Being able to play even a small role and casting my vote is really important to me and seeing other people also be part of it is great,” Singru said. “I think more people need to be encouraged to vote and to not think that their vote doesn’t matter.”

The Los Angeles County Democratic Party was also at the event, registering voters regardless of their political ideologies. Meera Popli, a senior majoring in political science, was staffing the booth and encouraged students to vote for the change they want to see.

“We have the power to make a change, we just have to exercise that power and voting is one of the best ways to do that,” Popli said.

Students can register to vote and find their local registration deadlines at vote.gov.