USC Holds Voter Registration Drive for Students

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Columbia , S.C. (WOLO) — On Tuesday, the University of South Carolina’s student registration coalition held a voter registration drive for students. With local and national elections right around the corner, students at the University of South Carolina are making sure their voices will be heard. “We‘re the future, so we‘re going to be voting for presidents to come in 10 and 20 years, we‘re going to be the ones putting them in office so I think it’s important that we vote now,” said freshman Anja Derry. To ensure students have that say, several university organizations joined forces to help the younger generation register to vote and increase voter participation across the political spectrum, from local elections to national. “We‘re trying to make sure students have the possibility to vote, have the potential to vote and are engaging in their civic duty,” explained event organizer Cory Alpert. While filling out the registration form only took students about 5 minutes, officials said the decision to do so makes a life-long impact. “I think that students have the tremendous potential to change the direction this country is going in,” said Rep. Jim Clyburn. Rep. Clyburn said today‘s young voters need to be more involved in the election voting process, especially with the South Carolina primary only a few months away. Clyburn said students need to educate themselves on where candidates stand on the issues that impact them most, such as student debt. “It‘s time for the status quo to get challenged again and I can‘t think of a better group to do it than students,” said Rep. Clyburn. More than 200 USC students registered on Tuesday during the registration drive.