While most of the Oxford Academy(OA) population will not be able to cast their votes in the upcoming presidential election on Nov. 5, seniors Cameron Oates, Madisyn Alcancia, Megan Hizon, and Samantha Reyes have dedicated a civic action project to incentivizing seniors to pre-register to vote.

Civic Action Projects (CAP), traditionally done by seniors, are a way for students to apply their social-studies knowledge to the real world in a way that positively contributes to their society. While the projects aren’t a graduation requirement, the successful completion of one grants the student an extra pin on their graduation stole to award their achievement. For Oates, Alcancia, Hizon, and Reyes, their AP United States Government and Politics teacher, Mr. Nathan Taylor, was a driving force behind their project.

“Mr. Taylor was really adamant about [students completing a CAP] and he pushed a lot of us to find something to do—he actually brought up the idea of our whole campaign of OA Voters. He said that if anyone was interested they could put up a booth as a campaign to get seniors to pre-register and so after he said that, our table got interested in it,” Hizon said.

OA Voters is focused on bringing awareness to the voter pre-registration process.

OA Voters, the team’s CAP, is focused on bringing awareness to the voter pre-registration process since, “not a lot of people know that you can pre-register to vote when you’re 16-17,” said Reyes.

By pre-registering, students can get a head start on the voting process by eliminating a step they would have to take later on, and by agreeing to receive more political updates, they’re able to civically engage more with the world around them.

With the ambitious goal of getting all of Oxford’s seniors to pre-register, the team created a social media account to represent their mission and clear up any confusion on @oavoters.

“People would come up to us during school and ask us ‘What even is OAVoters,’ so I think [the Instagram account] has helped us get out there because it’s not just seniors who follow the account — it’s also freshmen who are trying to get involved. I think that serves the purpose of our goal which is to introduce students to civic engagement—especially us seniors who are going to college and becoming adults,” said Alcancia.

In order to achieve their goal, the team visited all of the AP Government classes on Oct. 14 to present their CAP and introduce how the seniors could get involved. They also plan to set up a lunch-time booth near the girl’s locker rooms every Friday, starting Oct. 18, until the election. The booth will be equipped with computers displaying their Google Form that documents all of the students who’ve completed their pre-registration by asking for name, student ID, and pre-registration confirmation.

However, some pre-registration requirements pose a challenge as students must have a social security number and a form of identification.

“I know that getting all of the seniors is ambitious since there’s the other limitation of immigration statuses. So we’re working with those students who don’t have a Social Security number or don’t have a license, so they can still participate and be engaged civically,” said Alcancia.

Striving to include as many students in their mission as possible, OA Voters encourages them to take a more proactive role within their political climate and equip them with the tools they’ll need to shape their future. For those interested in their mission, the OA Voters team will be visiting AP Government classes this week and will host their booth Friday, Oct. 25.

This story was originally published on The Gamut on October 24, 2024.