Audio story by Nyla Haynie
San Luis Obispo County launched its second-ever high school voter registration competition this week. High school students ages 16 and up will compete to see which school registers the highest percentage of their student body.
The goal of the competition is to encourage 16- and 17-year-old students to preregister to vote. During that time, competition leaders will direct participating students to mail-in envelopes or through the online registration process. Students who have preregistered will have their voter registration automatically activated on their 18th birthday, according to a County Clerk-Recorder’s Office press release.
“California especially makes voting pretty easy, but it’s still a lot of work to get registered, to get educated about what’s on the ballot and how you want to vote,” said Erin Clausen, the County Public information Specialist. “So it just really gets us excited when people take that time to do it, and this competition is a really fun way to kind of move that forward.”
The competition will be held for five weeks instead of two like they did in 2024. The county is aiming for a bigger student turnout with this extension, according to Clausen.
“When we did it two years ago, we just used a two-week window, and that was good, but it was tough because it was in September, and it was kind of the start of the school year,” Clausen said. “This time, we realized we wanted to give them a bigger window.”
The Elections Office determines the winner based on the percentage of eligible students who completed registrations during the competition instead of the overall student body, according to the press release.
The competition is open to any school, as long as the participants are above the age of 16. Five schools in the county have confirmed they will compete but more are expected to join, according to Clausen.
The League of Women Voters San Luis Obispo played a critical role in the process. They provided organizational efforts during the last competition and aided in developing the Student Elections Ambassador Program in fall 2025.
“They are really valuable resources for the students because they’re always available to answer questions,” Clausen said. “They help make sure students feel supported as they come up with whatever they want to do to carry this ball forward.”
Their contributions have also allowed the county’s Student Elections Ambassador Program to contribute to student outreach. The program gives students the opportunity to become involved in local government and educate them on politics. The county has made an effort to include them in the competition this year, according to Clausen.
“We give them this opportunity to do this as a project, but really, what they sign up for when they become ambassadors is to learn the fundamentals of voting and registration, and then we ask them to do two projects over the course of the year,” Clausen said. “So most of them are using this competition as their fall project, and then they’ll do something else in the spring.”
Students involvement can increase effectiveness of the registration outreach because students tend to receive the messaging better from their friends and peers, according to Clausen.
At the end of October, the winner will receive an engraved trophy. The last competition took place in 2024, and Morro Bay High School currently holds the traveling trophy, according to the press release.