Cal Poly had the most new voter registrations of any school in California with 3,178 students registered through the Secretary of State’s Ballot Bowl competition.
California State University (CSU) Fullerton came in second with 2,627 competition participants and University of California (UC) Santa Barbara came in third with 1,848 registered voters through the Ballot Bowl.
A week before the competition ended, Cal Poly was second behind CSU Fullerton at 1,763 Ballot Bowl registered voters.
The Ballot Bowl, a college voter registration competition, was started by Sec. of State Alex Padilla in an effort to encourage college students to register to vote. The competition ranges from private schools to community colleges and tracks the number of students in each school who have registered to vote using their school’s registration link.
ASI joined the competition this year to encourage student voter registration and the use of a local address in registration.
Student voters registered in their hometown, rather than in San Luis Obispo, cannot vote in San Luis Obispo’s local elections. Students on campus are allowed to vote for state and federal elections, but not city elections, since Cal Poly is outside of city limits.
Cal Poly will receive an award for having the most students registered to vote. The award has not been specified. In addition to the award, Padillia will present a resolution to the administration acknowledging their effort, according to the website.