One hundred and fifty students registered to vote at the voter registration drive sponsored by Our First Vote on March 16.

Andrea Yagher ’20 created the organization as a peer-to-peer nonprofit to amplify the importance of millennial voting in America and mobilize the younger generation, she said.

“Our mission targets high school students to register early online, so when our generation gets to the polls we can vote on issues we care about and build the world that we want to inherit,” Yagher said.

Citizens can pre-register to vote starting at age 16 and can register when they turn 18.

The organizers of the event originally expected around 40 students to register and were pleasantly surprised to have 150 new voters register, Yagher said.

“I think it’s incredibly important to register to vote because as young adults it is vital we are informed and have a voice in the society that we are going to inherit,” drive participant Emma Sunkin ’19 said. “The experience of registering was very empowering because it showed me how each and every one of us is a special citizen in our own state and in America that can truly make a difference and voice our own opinions.”

Yagher plans to start an Our First Vote club to organize drives and to focus on the progressive issues important to her generation, she said.

Our First Vote ambassadors are working at a number of schools across Southern California, and the organization has three more voter registration drives planned for the upcoming month.