By Elizabeth Wells
For Triton’s Call

The Public Administration and Legal Studies (PALS) student organization is engaging in an ongoing voter registration drive throughout the Spring semester. The drive targets students under the age of 25.

PALS President Keith Quinata said the drive is a cross-campus initiative and the club will be reaching out to all colleges. He said the goal for this campaign is to engage young voters in the political process.

“These generations are the future,” Quinata said. “They are the ones that are going to have the voice for whatever happens to the island.”

According to Ron McNinch, Ph.D., UOG professor and PALS member for more than 20 years, about 80 percent of students at UOG are under 25, but only about 20 percent of these students are registered to vote.

Quinata said students may not be aware of where to go to register, or who to ask if they have questions, which could explain why a percentage of young adults are not registered to vote. The PALS’s campaign is working to bridge that gap.

“The main thing is for a lot of young people, they want to vote, they like the idea of voting, but they don’t make the connection of registering to vote and voting,” McNinch said. “And that’s not their fault. We want to make it easy.”

McNinch said he believes once students realize how easy it is to register, they will readily do it.

PALS will be collaborating with the Guam Election Commission (GEC) in order to have their members become registrars. At their first general meeting on Feb. 9, the organization set a goal of getting 2,000 students to register to vote by the end of the semester.

“Go big or go home,” McNinch said.

Quinata and Trinidad are registrars. Students can go directly to them in order to register. PALS said they are aiming to have around 40 members become registrars by May.

PALS plans to start the campaign at UOG, move to Guam Community College by April, and then on to high schools by May.

Quinata said they plan to have a registration booth set up on campus at least once this semester.

PALS will be encouraging students to take selfies when they register to vote and share them on social media in order to spread the idea that young people should be voting.

Quinata said students can register to vote with them or by visiting the GEC at the GCIC building in Agana.