Voter registration push on the Central Coast leading up to 2016 Presidential Election

Election offices across the state are trying to get more Californians registered ahead of this year’s Presidential election. They said the state’s population increase isn’t reflecting more voters. As the June primary is just months away the election offices in Santa Cruz and Monterey County said they hope to see more people registered before the deadline in May, but getting the word out to do so takes a lot of work. There are more than 183,000 eligible voters in Santa Cruz County, of that, only 75 percent are registered to vote.

“It’s bigger than the state which is good to say about Santa Cruz. We do have a very active voter population here but we can always do better,” said Santa Cruz County Clerk, Gail Pellerin.

Monterey County is also just ahead of the 70 percent state average with 72 percent of its residents registered to vote. The county elections office said this is the highest voter registration they’ve had in years.

“I think the dynamics are changing a little bit too. We have online voter registration, but in 2008 we didn’t have that yet so a lot of young people are using that method for registration,” said Monterey County Registrar of Voters, Claudio Valenzuela.

Santa Cruz County said it’s also advertising the upcoming elections on social media, hoping to get the attention of the younger voters. The election posts caught the eyes of students at UC Santa Cruz but college student Josh Shaw said he still doesn’t plan on voting.

“I feel like my opinion isn’t even going to be considered. You know your vote is just so small, so incrementally small,” said Shaw.

But for other students on campus, some are excited to be able to vote for the first time.

“Bernie sanders is someone that I really believe in and that’s who I want to vote for and so I definitely want to make sure he gets that vote and I also feel like now that I’m 18 it’s kind of not necessarily my duty but it feels like an honor,” said Elena Kollin.

The deadline to register before the June primary is May 23. If you are a student away at school you can always vote by mail.

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Voter registration is increasing across California compared to data from the 2012 Presidential Election.

That’s according to research by Secretary of State Alex Padilla’s Office. But numbers aren’t keeping pace with population increases.

KION’s Brandon Castillo takes a look at how Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties stack up, as only 70 percent of eligible Californians are currently registered.