LBCC’s on-campus voting station opened on Saturday in the T Building, but the turnout for young first time voters was lower than anticipated.
The voting centers on both LAC and TTC will be open every day from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. until election day on Nov. 5, when they will open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Many of the voters were middle-aged and simply arrived to drop off their already filled out ballots.
By 3 p.m., the voting center had reached 180 ballots, which was far more than they had anticipated, but only a small handful of those were cast by first time voters.
The majority of young voters at the center cast their ballots for the first time in the 2020 presidential election.
Reese Walker, a student at LBBC said that she had voted in the last election, but this was her first time experiencing voting in person.
“I voted in person this time because sometimes they send back mail in votes. It happened to my friend, and I didn’t want that to happen to me,” Walker said.
“I wanted to see a change in the world, and this is a big way to do it. Overall it was a good experience,” said Walker.
The few young voters that did arrive shared similar sentiments of wanting to make a difference in the world and felt that voting in person gave them a sense of security in knowing that their vote will be counted.
“I just like to be involved in the system. I want to be a lawyer and I feel like I should be participating in elections if I want to be in the judicial system,” said Hanna Aviles, another young voter who was casting her ballot for the second time.
“This is also where I voted last time. I came with my grandmother and my mother, and we’re voting together,” said Aviles.
Nearing the closing time of the voting station, Drew Hannon, a student at LBCC who was voting for the first time shared the same sentiment as the other young voters.
“I felt more comfortable voting in person than mailing it in. It felt more real,” Hannon said
“I felt compelled to vote by being a resident of California. I’m 19, part of Gen Z, and they say we’re the future, so I wanted to be a part of that,” said Hannon.
The reason for this low turnout of first time voters is currently unknown, however there are still those that value the reliability of in person voting.