As Election Day draws near, the NDB National Honor Society Board is working hard to make sure that every member of the NDB community knows how to register or pre-register to vote.

Voting is an easy way for Americans to have their voices heard by the government, yet many eligible citizens do not take advantage of the opportunity to vote in every election. According to the US Census, only 61.4 percent of citizens voted in the 2016 election, and only 14 percent of those voters fell within the age range of 18-29.

Californians can pre-register to vote at the age of 16. This means that over half of the NDB student population can sign up and be ready to vote once they turn 18. Further, ten NDB seniors can already vote in the upcoming 2020 election.

“Only ten of us in the whole school can vote [this year], so I feel like I am speaking for all of the other students with my vote,” said NDB senior Taylor Klein. “I want to vote for all the people who also really want to, but can’t right now [because of their age].”

Other seniors relate the importance of voting to current social issues. “Voting this year is definitely important to me because of the recent political environment of our country,” said NDB senior Annaliese Shelton. “Black Lives Matter, [issues with] police, and COVID all create such high stakes right now. This isn’t just about having another president, it’s about the future of who we are as America and who we involve in our politics.”

The National Honor Society, also known as NHS, is a nationwide program that awards membership to students who show high academic achievement. Aside from supporting academic excellence, the NDB NHS Board works on important projects like mock elections and voter awareness initiatives.

NHS Board Moderator Jonathan Tomczak spoke to The Catalyst about what NDB students can do to promote voter awareness through a new initiative called the Tigers Vote Project.

“The Tigers Vote Project is a multi-piece attempt to get people more involved and interested in everything going on with the government and voting,” said Tomczak. “We’re building a website on the rules of voting in each state, and we’re going to try to encourage all our NDB students to pass that information along and have the people they pass it on to pass it on to someone else.”

With the website launched, all information on voting in every state is accessible in one place. This website makes it easy for members of the NDB community to preregister or register to vote in the upcoming presidential election and other elections in the future.

When asked about the process of pre-registering, Tomczak said, “It’s actually very easy to do. It can be done in five minutes”. The process merely requires one’s social security number and driver’s license PIN if applicable.

The Tigers Vote Project website can be found at tinyurl.com/TigersVoteProject and resources to create a voting plan can be found at tinyurl.com/MyVotingPlan.