Voters encouraged to register, speak up on National Voter Registration Day

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - On National Voter Registration Day, Augusta Tech and Augusta University students learned about the importance of voting.

Local organizations and students say it’s more important now than ever to make your voice heard — but some have expressed concern.

“I think silence is the death of democracy. We have the First Amendment for a reason, and that is freedom of speech,” Gayla Keesee with the League of Women Voters said Tuesday.

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Using your voice is something organizations like the Women’s League of Voters and Georgia Shift encourage people to do.

“To be willing to put yourself out there and say, this is what I believe. I’m not into hate speech. I’m not into denigrating. I’m not into name-calling. None of those things creates dialogue, and that’s what we need to have right now. We need to be able to talk across the aisle and to find how we are similar because we really are more alike in what we think is important than we are different,” Keesee said.

The organization says they are seeing more involvement with younger generations, not only wanting to register to vote but also being involved with government and elected officials.

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Kirsten Watkins and Madison Gaddis are Augusta University students.

Watkins said, “I feel like it forms a lot of controversy, especially now like with social media being such a big platform for people to speak out. I know a lot of times, especially with what happened this past weekend, there’s been a lot of different heavy, conflicting ideas and opinions about certain situations. But at the end of the day, we all have our right to say how we feel about things and to act appropriately on how we feel about those things to make sure that we get the results that we’re looking for.”

Encouraging people to stand up for what they believe in, no matter the side.

“There’s a lot going on in our world right now, and if we have all of the young adults making sure their vote is heard, we can make this country into a better country,” said Jaida Jenkins, AU impact advisor.

People in South Carolina can register to vote here and people in Georgia can register here.