The USC Center for the Political Future celebrated National Voter Registration Day Tuesday by letting various student clubs, nonprofits and city organizations table at Associates Park to help students register to vote.  

Many of the booths provided QR codes, forms and voter guide resources to help students vote. Students received free burgers and fries if they obtained the signatures of representatives from six booths. 

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“The best way to advocate for the change that young people want to see is to vote,” said Kamy Akhavan, executive director of CPF. “Avoid that self-believing prophecy [that voting won’t make a difference] and be part of the solution … The largest generation in American history ever is millennials. Second is Gen Z. Gen Z has the numbers, [and it] has the power.” 

The turnout rate for youth voters — those aged 18 to 29 — surged from 39% in 2016 to 50% in 2020. In 2018, Millennials, Gen Z and Gen X combined outvoted Boomers and the Silent Generation.

Sara Xiao Stienecker, the president of VoteSC and a senior majoring in political science, said secretary of states’ restrictive out-of-state ballot policies — such as in Texas — disincentivize people from voting. 

“We’re really excited for the student body to have the opportunity to use their voice in an election especially when Gen Z is a historically underrepresented voting group,” Stienecker said. “As young people, we so often hear that ‘Politics isn’t for me. No one’s listening to me,’ and politicians listen to votes. The best way to make sure your voice is heard by your elected officials is to use that vote.”

Common Cause, a nonprofit watchdog organization that focuses on voting rights and campaign finance, offered attendees anti-gerrymandering pins, branded t-shirts and signs that read “No one is above the law” and “Holding power accountable.”

“When it comes time for a presidential election, this is the time where your voice is the loudest and it can be the loudest, and we don’t want those silenced by any outside actors or legislation or processes,” said Major Mischel, a operations and development worker at Common Cause. “Don’t let anyone intimidate you from exercising your most fundamental right.”

The Divine Nine, a council of historically Black fraternities and sororities, officially mobilized its chapters in June to launch a nonpartisan voter mobilization campaign.

Aishat Tiamiyu, the president of USC’s chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho and a senior majoring in public policy, helped staff their booth at the fair.  

“We are going to make sure that [everyone], especially the Black community, are registered to vote,” Tiamiyu said. “But that message is not only for the Black community. Everyone should be registered to vote if they are eligible.” 

In 2022, USC was recognized by ALL IN, a nonpartisan civic engagement organization, as one of the Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting alongside nearly 400 other campuses. 

Akhavan said if youth voters mobilize in large enough numbers, then they will see change on the issues they most care about such as climate change and gun violence. 

“[We want to] become a campus where the culture is a pro-voting culture,” Akhavan said. “USC is a place where, regardless of your ideological stripes, civic engagement and respect for civic discourse can happen.”  

Akhavan said the best way to guarantee the ability to exercise the right to vote is by registering as early as possible to prevent issues due to sudden illness, car breakdown or complex paperwork. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services department naturalized over 800,000 new citizens in 2023 after a lull during the pandemic. 

“My mom is an immigrant to this country,” Xiao Stienecker said. “I went with her the first time she was able to cast a ballot and it’s a really emotional thing for me. That’s a really important practical part of what being an American is.”