COLUMBUS, Ohio — Several organizations in central Ohio are encouraging young people to get involved in the election.
The Juvenile Intervention Center is one of them. The center is where youth who are accused of a crime wait for trial. The people who work at the center want to make a change in the young people's lives they come into contact with.
“One of the most important things for us in the court system to release youth back community better how we found them,” said Tresalyan Buter, Juvenile intervention center.
The center is partnering with Black Men Vote to educate young people on voting rights and if they want, register them to vote.
“Often times when you are young, you don't think of future, you don't care who President is, judges are, things of that nature. But, these people affect your life,” said Kelvin Burrell, superintendent Juvenile Intervention Center.
“I asked ‘Do you know if a felon can vote?’ Their immediate answer was ‘no’. But, in Ohio that’s not true. If you are not currently serving sentence for a felony, you can vote even if you are incarcerated,” said Raphael Davis-Williams, Black Men Voting Collective.
League of Women Voters is also trying to educate young people on voting. The organization is on a 20-campus bus tour to college campuses all across Ohio. On Tuesday, they visited Columbus State and Capital University.
“We want to make sure college students become lifelong voters and civic leaders. The first step is making sure you register. A lot of the times students change addresses and don't realize they need to update voter registration,” said Jen Miller, executive director of League of Women Voters.
Miller said it's an opportunity for them to give students neutral, non-partisan information about why voting is so important. They help students register to vote, among other things.
“Make sure they have right polling location, know all deadlines, make voting plan based on the most up to date voting laws,” said Miller.
The deadline to register to vote in Ohio is Oct. 7. To learn how to register, click here.