Boulder County, Colorado – In partnership with Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley School Districts, Boulder County Elections is excited to celebrate this week, April 7-11, 2025 as our 6th annual “High School Student Voter Registration Awareness Week.” The effort aims to promote voter registration and pre-registration for high school students. A new change this year is that students as young as 15 may pre-register to vote. (Previously in Colorado, youth had to be 16 to pre-register. This change helps streamline processes at DMV offices statewide where some youth register to vote when getting their driver’s permit.). Additionally, new this year, Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson Counties will also be working with their high schools in various capacities to celebrate High School Student Voter Registration Awareness week.

During Student Voter Registration Awareness Week and the weeks following, schools are asked to encourage and promote voter registration and provide voting information by:

• Making voter registration accessible and convenient and/or by holding voter registration events
• Displaying educational posters with registration information (supplied by Boulder County Elections)
• Leveraging formal and trusted communication channels for voter registration information – including school emails, loudspeaker announcements, and classroom presentations
• Inviting Boulder County Elections to host a registration table during school hours or present during a class or at an assembly

“As always, we are thankful to BVSD and SVVSD for their partnership and for letting us reach out directly to their schools and students on the importance of getting registered to vote,” stated Boulder County Clerk & Recorder Molly Fitzpatrick. “Additionally, with our tradition now fully established in Boulder County, I’m excited to see other jurisdictions join in and get High School Student Voter Registration Awareness Week established in other counties. Getting young people excited and ready to vote as students makes them more likely to cast that first ballot when the time comes.”

"Student Voter Registration Awareness Week offers our teachers and staff a valuable opportunity to highlight the significance of voter registration and educate students about the voting process," said Kahle Charles, SVVSD Assistant Superintendent of Assessment, Curriculum, and Instruction. "Now more than ever, civic engagement is essential, and our collaboration with Boulder County Elections provides the resources necessary to support and empower our youth."

“Voting for the first time can be daunting, especially if you’ve left home and don’t know where to start,” remarked Nicole Rajpal, President, BVSD Board of Education. “I love the idea that local election offices are helping with the process, equipping a staff member at each school on how to help our students with the registration process. Getting our students registered now and explaining the process of how mail ballot voting works in Colorado means they will feel ready and more likely to vote when they turn 18.”

The week was first designated and celebrated in early February 2020, in preparation for the March Presidential Primary. A major goal of the week was to raise awareness that eligible 17-year-olds (those who would turn 18 by the November election) could vote in that year’s primary (note: this right was later revoked by ballot measure in November 2020). The partnership with schools helped lead to a 61% turnout in the March Presidential Primary among 17-year-olds in Boulder County (in contrast to a statewide turnout for the same age group of 43%). Additionally, our high school voter registration program and engagement earned Boulder County Elections a U.S. Election Assistance Commission Clearinghouse Award for outstanding innovation in elections.

In 2021, the week celebration was moved to early April to better equip graduating seniors with the information they needed to know about their voter registration and voting options if leaving home for college or elsewhere.

For more information on High School Student Voter Registration Awareness Week and to find registration documents and other supporting materials for schools, see https://boco.org/HSRegInfo.