In San Luis Obispo County, more than 40% of rejected ballots from the November 2024 election were from voters ages 18 to 24, according to the Clerk-Recorder's Office.
In an effort to lower that number, the county is launching the Student Elections Ambassador Program.
“We're bringing together more than 20 high school students from around the county to learn about elections and voting straight from the Clerk-Recorder's Office and then learn how to register their peers,” said Erin Clausen, SLO County Clerk-Recorder's Office Public Information Officer.
The program is bringing students from eight different high schools together, including Paso Robles, Templeton, Atascadero, San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay, and Nipomo.
The program is modeled after one in Marin County, where students have the resources they need to help with voter outreach.
“Because sometimes they have ideas that are far better than anything that we have or that has been done,” Clausen said.
The goal is to get people younger than 18 to preregister to vote and to help eliminate some common mistakes that young voters often make, like faulty signatures.
“Whatever they put with pen to actual paper doesn't match what they did at the DMV, and so that means their ballot gets flagged. We reach out to them and try and rectify that,” Clausen explained.
She says that younger voters have a significantly lower rate of following up when reached out to, leaving votes uncounted.
Selected in May, the group of teens will be able to work closely with mentors from the elections office and the local League of Women Voters through the 2025-2026 school year.
“If young people vote in the first three of their first four elections that they're eligible, then they're more likely to be lifetime voters,” said Julie Rodewald, former SLO County Clerk-Recorder and current mentor with the League of Women Voters.
Those involved hope the new approach to voting gets SLO County’s younger population more involved.
“To have it come from one of your fellow students, I think, is really critical in getting the message across to the high school students,” Rodewald said.
The program will kick off in early August.
