For ASU and local organizations, voter registration is not an activity solely for election season.
Advocates and some of the University's freshmen say civic participation allows students to have their voices heard on issues, even at the local level, and should not be relegated to major elections.
According to the University website, the Higher Education Amendments of 1998 requires postsecondary institutions to make a "good faith effort" to provide students with voter registration materials, a policy the University implements each year.
The Pastor Center for Politics and Public Service provides resources to help students get registered and learn how to engage politically. ASU encourages students to register to vote or edit their registration information via a priority task on MyASU.
Other organizations have also worked to engage young students in the political process.
Alberto Plantillas, the central regional director of the Arizona Students' Association and a graduate student studying public policy, said ASA advocates for political issues that impact higher education, such as student representation in policymaking bodies and funding for public universities and tuition affordability.
"We've always believed that voter registration has been a core value of the organization," Plantillas said. "Registering students to vote has been something that this organization has done from its beginning."
ASA holds voter registration drives and "Know Your Ballot" events to inform students about voting resources, deadlines, election dates and the issues they are voting on.
Plantillas said ASA focuses on issues rather than partisan politics.
"One of the things we encourage them to do is also to speak their own mind and to vote whatever way they believe is most beneficial to them," Plantillas said. "We really walk a nonpartisan line here."
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Plantillas said some students are unaware of the ways to be involved in local politics that take place outside the spotlight of general elections.
"They asked us 'Is there even an election this year?'" Plantillas said.
For students living in Tempe and registered to vote at their current address, Plantillas pointed to upcoming City Council elections in March of 2026 and local issues.
"That activated them to register to vote," Plantillas said.
Several ASU freshmen agreed that registering to vote and participating in elections is essential.
"It's always important to register to vote, especially since there's so many people who can't and aren't allowed to vote in the state of Arizona," Julian Bojorquez Meza, a freshman studying biomedical sciences, said.
Bojorquez Meza said he registered to vote while getting his REAL ID and plans to participate in upcoming local elections. To prepare, he said he researches the issues that matter to him from each side of the political spectrum.
"I see a lot of problems within my community," Bojorquez Meza said. "Usually you get a lot of mail from both sides, both parties and it's like 'Here's this issue and here's how we want to work on it.'"
Mimi Scarpino, a freshman studying business sustainability, said it is critical that students use their right to vote.
"It's really important to exercise that (right) as people and as adults as we're growing into (the) people that we're becoming," Scarpino said. "Honestly, it's important for every student."
Plantillas said pushing for voter registration allows ASA to get students involved in the political process.
"We can't just advocate for policies and not encourage students to register to vote, to express their beliefs on these policies," Plantillas said. "That's one of the clearest ways that we can show that we haven't just talked to students about policies and issues that affect them ... we've also prepared them to engage civically and that includes voting."
Edited by Carsten Oyer, Senna James and Ellis Preston.
Reach the reporter at msweador@asu.edu and follow @miasweador on X.
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