High school students are at the forefront of a new San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s Office initiative to boost civic learning.
Out of the lineup of upcoming youth-focused projects from the Elections Office, the Student Election Ambassador Program is one that collaborates with the League of Women Voters SLO.
“Young people, basically, are the ones who are most impacted by government policies and things being enacted now,” County Clerk-Recorder’s Office spokesperson Erin Clausen said. “But they can often feel disconnected or disillusioned, or even those that are engaged and interested don’t have the resources or support to get out and do something about it.”
The program—drawing from a model created in Marin County—will reinforce students’ understanding of the importance of elections and will equip them with skills to register their peers. According to Clausen, applications have already begun rolling in from South County.
“We can kind of, for lack of a better word, preach about democracy all day long, or try and get information out there,” she said. “But we recognize that peer-to-peer outreach is critical, and that they also have skills and creativity that we don’t necessarily have.”
Ten students between 16 and 18 years old will receive a self-paced training module over the summer that dives into the history and significance of voting and provides steps on how to register people to vote. Paired with a mentor from either the Elections Office or League of Women Voters at an in-person meeting, each student can then brainstorm ideas on how to reach other students when the new academic year begins in August. That outreach can look like organizing a community event, harnessing social media to spread the word, or handing out welcome packets to first-time voters on school campuses.
Clausen and the Elections Office hope that student outreach can tackle an issue that disproportionately affects young voters: failed signature “curing.” Young voters failing to fix—or cure—their signatures when they don’t match what the Elections Office has on file is why their ballots get rejected at a higher rate than older voters’.
“When they register to vote, [they] often [sign] … on a trackpad, or one of those touchpad things,” Clausen said. “A lot of times, their signature on their vote-by-mail ballot when it comes in doesn’t match that. So, there’s a much higher rate of us needing to track down and get signatures cured from younger people, and then, they’re often a lot less likely to follow through on that duty.”
The program comes on the heels of the November 2024 general election where 1,766 18-year-olds and 2,045 19-year-olds actually voted from SLO County. They made up 2.4 percent of the total actual voters in 2024, according to Clausen.
The student ambassador recruitment also arrives after the Elections Office-led high school voter registration competition last fall, when the 560 students officially registered or pre-registered to vote.
“Students can pre-register if they’re 16 or 17, and if they do so they’ll automatically become registered voters on their 18th birthday,” Clausen said. “So, this ambassador program will train participants to effectively register and pre-register other students.”
The online application for the ambassador program is available at slocounty.ca.gov/departments/clerk-recorder/all-services/elections-and-voting/student-election-ambassador-program.
The application period runs through May 16. While most applications have come in from South County so far, Clausen said the Elections Office is looking for student ambassadors who represent all districts of the county. The Elections Office will also work with the selected students to provide documentation and sign paperwork needed to get credit for community service hours from their respective schools.
“It’s going to depend, in the end, on exactly how many mentors we have lined up with the League of Women Voters, who’s partnering with us on this,” Clausen said. “The goal is to have each student who participates do one project ideally in the fall and one in the spring.”
Fast fact
• SLO Regional Rideshare kicked off Bike Month on May 1. Themed “summer camp nostalgia,” Bike Month will run throughout May with events like Bike to School Day and Bike to Work Week. Interested residents who don’t have a bike can check out the Bike Kitchen for refurbished bicycles for sale, and Bike SLO County’s Try-A-Bike program offers a range of e-bikes available to test-ride for five days. Find the Bike Month calendar at rideshare.org/bike-month-calendar. Δ
Reach Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal at brajagopal@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in May 8-18, 2025.