SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio nonprofit has been working with schools and organizations to grow youth voting in Bexar County.
Last year, Heather Eichling started the nonprofit, Youth Do Vote.
“We’ve been building lots of partnerships with school districts, individual schools and teachers and nonprofits,” Heather Eichling, the founder and executive director of Youth Do Vote said.
Eichling said the nonprofit focuses on building a nonpartisan network of schools, students and local nonprofits to spread awareness on voting education, voter registration and recruitment of student election clerks.
“Tomorrow’s (Tuesday’s) election we have eight high school students that are going to be working elections,” Eichling said.
In Texas, students who are 16 years of age or older have the opportunity to participate in the electoral process by serving as elections clerks.
“It’s a great opportunity for students to start learning early, even before they are eligible to register they can start learning what it takes to run an election,” Eichling said.
Eichling became a poll worker in 2016 and grew up learning about elections.
“My grandma probably 80s, 90s used to be a poll worker for a long time at Lanier High School. I remember going as a kid to visit her and then when she needed help, my mom would sometimes work with her as well,” Eichling said.
She hopes to continue working with more schools in San Antonio.
“We’re investing this relationship with school districts to help them. Get them the resources, the information that they need,” Eichling said.