Student club tries to get teens to care about election

CASTLE ROCK – If you ask a teenager what's cool, they words "presidential election" likely would not come up. That's why the Democrats In Action club at Douglas County High School launched a voter registration drive to tap into the excitement surrounding Super Tuesday.

"We needed to find a way to more get people drawn into this," said Sara Fitouri, senior and co-founder of the Democrats In Action club. "Because it wasn't that there weren't any Republicans, (or) there weren't any Democrats. It's just that there weren't many people who cared."

Fitouri and the other club members sent invitations to every senior and junior who will be of voting age by November to register to vote in the school cafeteria, Tuesday morning.

"I think that they feel like it's such a hassle," said Fitouri. "That was one of our goals with today is we could register them to vote in just one day and they bring everything and they're registered."

Democrats In Action pumped in music, T-shirts and snacks to make the registration process more appealing to students. Jill Goeken, teacher and club sponsor, says the whole experience is a great learning opportunity.

"This might spark their attention and get them paying attention more to what the caucus procedure is all about," said Goeken. "It makes them realize that their votes do matter and they can become galvanized around causes and people."

Organizers expected about 20 to 30 students to show up because of what they call the typical teenage attitude. By the end of the drive, 177 students registered to vote in November.

"That's awesome cause this is the first time we've ever done it in the school," said Kimberly Corzine, Douglas County High School registrar. "This is our future generation and if they don't get involved now and have a voice, they need to realize they have a voice."

Fitouri says the turnout is surprising.

"About a third of the senior class total, so we think it's really exciting that a lot of the youth here really do want to vote," she said.

Fitouri thinks her efforts at making the election "cool" is working. Junior Daniel Dupuis agrees.

"Before, like last year, I was saying I really could care less about voting," said Dupuis. "But now, I'm kinda getting into it now that all the rest of the students around me are saying you should go vote and put in your input."

Thursday, Douglas County High School will hold a mock primary to see which candidates students like the best.

"I'm excited," said Fitouri. "This has gone well."