The External Vice President for Local Affairs and Gauchos Vote Coalition held a voter registration drive at the Pardall Center in Isla Vista on Oct. 18, two days before the deadline to register to vote in California. Roughly 30 people registered to vote at the drive.

Gullem, said the primary motivation for hosting the event was to promote civic engagement in Isla Vista. Anushka Ghosh Dastidar / Daily Nexus

This Election Day, Nov. 5, the UC Santa Barbara community will be able to vote for the next president, local officials and other ballot initiatives that directly impact Santa Barbara County. Polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.

The event ran from 3-5 p.m. at the Pardall Center and featured informational tabling from Associated Students Lobby Corps, free Yetz’s Bagels, tote bags and stickers to encourage people to register for the upcoming election on Nov. 5.

According to fourth-year history of public policy and law major and External Vice President for Local Affairs (EVPLA) Owen Meyers, all students had to do to register to vote was fill out a California national voter registration card. These cards were then mailed or dropped off to ballot stations by Gauchos Vote Coalition, a nonpartisan group working toward increasing UCSB student voter turnout.

The EVPLA office has historically been involved in registering students to vote, Meyers  said, and this is one of the “big tenets” of his office. He said he will continue to host voter events throughout the year to encourage students to participate in politics.

“I am emphasizing the locality of local politics, local policies to students, and it’s important that we have a voice and get involved in that. I feel like getting mixed up in classes and things like that, and different organizations and clubs leads students to stray away from getting involved in the local politics, which leads to our voices being diminished,” Meyers said.

Gauchos Vote Coalition member and fourth-year political science and economics double major Jeanne Broome echoed this sentiment, stating that voting is a form of empowerment for students.

“Registering students to vote here in Santa Barbara is particularly relevant to the EVPLA’s work; voting locally is how students can shape their lives in Isla Vista and the lives of future students! It’s empowering to have a voice in your community, and we want all students to have that opportunity,” Broome said in a statement to the Nexus.

Voters in Santa Barbara County will be able to elect a representative for the 24th Congressional District of California. Oklahoma’s current 4th Congressional District Representative, Republican Thomas Cole and current California 24th Congressional District Representative, Democrat Salud Carbajal, are on the ballot. For U.S. president, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump will be on the national ballot. 

Locally, multiple seats are up for re-election, such as the Santa Barbara County school board members, the Goleta water board members and the Isla Vista Recreation and Park District (IVRPD). Six seats are open for the IVRPD board and candidates Robbin May Dominguez Balagtas, Demi Cain, Kim DuFore, Greg Ortiz, Ash Valenti and Finn Zilles are running.

The EVPLA office has historically been involved in registering students to vote, Meyers said this is one of the “big tenants” of his office. Anushka Ghosh Dastidar / Daily Nexus

Fourth-year public policy and law major and EVPLA Chief of Staff Moira Gullem said the primary motivation for the event was to promote civic engagement in Isla Vista and get students to become more involved in I.V. community politics.

“Any involvement in civic engagement is important generally, but especially in I.V., when so much of the population just comes here and doesn’t register to vote,” Gullem said.

Santa Barbara County saw an 84% voter turnout in the 2020 elections with over 197,000 voters casting a ballot. This year, the Gauchos Vote Coalition registered around 1,950 voters since the beginning of the school year.

Meyers, who formerly chaired the Pardall Center Governance Board, said the significance of holding the drive at Pardall Center was to emphasize its free and accessible presence to students. The center currently offers a kitchenette with a Keurig, microwave and toaster, as well as free scantrons, blue books, printing services and a laminator.

“It’s a free location. I plan to reach out to dozens of student organizations and letting them know they can meet here, hold cultural events here, because you do this process of holding events here. I just want to emphasize it’s a free space that students can use,” Meyers said.

The EVPLA office plans to table again on Nov. 4 in collaboration with Gauchos Vote Coalition to encourage people to get out to the polls if they are registered to vote.

“Now that we have hosted this drive, it’s important that people also go out to the polls themselves if they have been registered,” Meyers said.

A version of this article appeared on p. 1 of the Oct. 24, 2024 edition of the Daily Nexus.

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Anushka Ghosh Dastidar
Anushka Ghosh Dastidar (she/her) is the Lead News Editor for the 2024-25 school year. Previously, Ghosh Dastidar was the Community Outreach News Editor for the 2023-24 school year and the Assistant News Editor for the 2022-2023 school year. She can be reached at anushkagd@dailynexus.com or news@dailynexus.com.