In hopes of promoting student civic engagement, the Los Angeles Unified School District [LAUSD] Board of Education made September 25 “LA Unified High School Voter Registration Day.” Though Archer is not a part of LAUSD, the Human Rights Watch Student Task Force gave students the same opportunity to pre-register to vote.

The leaders of the organization, juniors Allie Worchell and Abigale Lischak focus on awareness of human rights in the Archer community. The theme this year is human rights throughout politics. 

“Our campaign for half the year is focusing on the midterm elections and focusing on human rights while voting instead of picking a side,” Worchell said. ” [We’re] making it less about partisanship and more focused on human rights.”

Students who are 16 or over were able to pre-register or register to vote for the 2020 election.

“I think it was really great to have pre-registration at Archer because it allows us teenagers to show our commitment to having a voice in our society,” Sophie Larbalestier ’20, who pre-registered, said. “Even though we can’t vote in this year’s midterms, we will be able to vote in 2020…Having our voices heard is important, so I was really excited to be able to start that process.” 

According to the United States Elections Project, in the past 20 years, the highest percentage of 18-29 year olds who have voted has been just below 50 percent.

“Voter registration rates are very low, especially for young people,” Lischak said. “By having it at Archer we could be cohesive with the rest of the city and get more voters.”

Worchell commented on how the pre-registration was a good way to encourage engagement in politics.

“I think people are changing their opinion on what it means to vote and beginning to understand the importance of voting,” Worchell said. “So I think it’s really important that we had voter registration because we, the youth, are the future, and we can make the change that we want to see.”