Civic Engagement Beyond Voting (CEBV) Announces Initiative to Engage Gen Z Through High School Voter Registration Challenge

PHOENIX, ARIZONA – An entire generation of students who have grown up with “active shooter drills,” school massacres, climate disasters, vanishing reproductive choice, and attacks on their very identity is coming of voting age. And they are frustrated by out-of-touch politicians who disregard their voices. 

This spring, Sarakanti Iyer, a high school student whose passion is civic engagement through voting, organized the first Civic Engagement Beyond Voting–Youth (CEBV-Y) voter registration drive at her school in Phoenix, noting, “Something that’s visible in every teenager I know is an anger towards our institutions — I would say that my voter registration drive gave students’ anger a better direction and the tools to make change.”   

The effort was successful beyond Sarakanti’s expectations, registering approximately 65% of eligible students, who were enthusiastic and excited to anticipate exercising their right to vote.  The students are increasingly watching and noticing the ineffective or misguided actions of politicians, and are committed to replacing them in 2024. “We as the young people of Arizona have so much we want to do. We are a force of our own. We will march, we will speak, we will write, and when we can, we will VOTE for the future we believe in,” declared Iyer.

Indeed, according to The Civics Center, a nonprofit based in California, in 2020 a staggering 86% of young people (18-24) who were registered to vote actually turned out. Once they’re registered, they vote — so CEBV-Y in partnership with The Civics Center is announcing a High School Voter Registration Challenge with a goal of registering every high school student in Arizona to vote. 

“Most high school seniors in Arizona are old enough to register to vote today,” said Laura W. Brill, founder and CEO of The Civics Center. “Our mission is to empower students like Sarakanti to organize nonpartisan voter registration drives in their high schools where they build leadership skills, connect with their community, and strengthen our democracy, all at the same time.”

Data analysis courtesy The Civics Center

High schoolers across Arizona are encouraged to participate in the challenge happening during High School Voter Registration Week, October 2-6, 2023, by running voter registration drives at their high schools. The Civics Center will provide training, materials and support, beginning with three training sessions to facilitate this challenge, August 17, August 26, and August 30. All will be held over Zoom and provide the information needed to run a voter registration drive. Registration and attendance in a training is *mandatory* to be included in the challenge.   

To interview Sarakanti Iyer, please contact Brandy Reese at 630-881-2849 or brandy@cebv.us.

Learn more about CEBV at www.cebv.us, on Twitter at @AZCEBVus, on Facebook @azCEBVus, and/or subscribe to The Weekly at cebv.substack.com. To learn more about The Civics Center, visit thecivicscenter.org.

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Background:

Civic Engagement Beyond Voting-Youth (CEBV-Y), is the youth arm of CEBV, a nonprofit, nonpartisan Indivisible group with followers in every single Arizona congressional and legislative district. Their mission is to create a community for and of young progressives who can exercise their voices at the state and local levels. 

The Civics Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to bringing voter registration to every high school in America. The Civics Center is a project of Community Partners, a 501(c)(3) organization.

Sarakanti Iyer, a founding member of CEBV-Y, has been deeply involved in registering youth to vote statewide since completing a voter registration drive on her own high school campus in April, 2023. Through CEBV-Y’s initiative with the Civics Center, she hopes to help give her peers a voice in the future of our country, and indeed our world.