Caroline Retzer and Madeline McHenry aren’t strangers to civic engagement. Through their involvement as co-presidents of the Park City Youth Council, they’ve helped with city council elections and participated in good, old-fashioned door-knocking. Now, they’re helping their peers become involved as voters by informing them of the state’s pre-registration processes. “We learned Utah was one of 22 states that allowed for pre-voter registration for residents as young as 16, and we thought it would be such an easy addition to our U.S. Government course that is mandatory for graduation at the high school,” Retzer said.Interested in what that could mean for almost-adult Utahns, the girls researched young voter trends and found that while many young people are interested in politics, they can find it challenging to vote in elections. They also found that one way states can promote young voters’ involvement is by making it simple to register as a voter.The students initially reached out to Park City School Board President Andrew Caplan, who put them on the board’s August agenda to discuss their hopes to inform students at Park City High School about their pre-registration as part of the school’s required curriculum. “We think that it’d be really cool and important if we could incorporate that into our government class at the high school,” Retzer told the board at the meeting.“We also just think that it would be significantly more effective than what’s been happening in the past where there’s a stand at the lunch tables just because it will give all of the students at the high school to know about voter registration and also have a chance to do that in class,” McHenry added.      Board members responded positively to the girls’ effort, and Caplan introduced them to Stacey Briggs, the district’s teaching and learning director, to help them take the next steps to add the pre-registration information to the school’s curriculum.“Right now, we’re in the process of developing a lesson plan to be incorporated into the classroom and have had a ton of support from Mr. Arbabi, our principal at the high school, too,” McHenry said. In order to implement a discussion about pre-registration information into the high school’s U.S. Government course curriculum, Briggs first needs to approve the addition, and then it goes to the school board. “We’ll present a final time to the school board to finalize it at their next meeting,” McHenry said. “We’re really close.”While their proposed change wouldn’t require any students to register to vote, they explained the process only takes about five minutes, and they said they believe spreading awareness about the opportunity can significantly increase the amount of young voters in Utah.“We’d love to see pre-voter registration eventually become part of the statewide curriculum, which could result in Utah having one of the highest turnouts of young voters,” McHenry said.“We also think it’s just really important for young voters to be participating in the political process and that their opinions are being considered,” Retzer added. “The decisions being made now and the policies put into place will impact the younger generations as much — if not more — than the older generations.”McHenry explained how a five- or 10-minute lesson plan explaining pre-registration could be helpful for busy teenagers at the cusp of graduation and concerned about college and what comes next.“There’s a lot going on, so being able to do that right away before college is just another thing to get out of the way,” Retzer said.They said they’ve received a positive response from school administrators and the Youth Council.“We think spreading the word will just be the most effective and helpful way to really get pre-voter registration out,” Retzer said. “Other than that, we’ll see where it takes us.”They hope their efforts to implement preregistration into their local curriculum will help set the stage for a state-level effort.The post Students push to add pre-registeration voting information to curriculum appeared first on Park Record.