a Statewide contest kicks off today to turn out young New Jersey voters this fall the annual ballot bowl is back for the sixth year and election officials are determined to get more students registered and at the polls than ever before as Melissa Rose Cooper reports the friendly competition is designed to show young residents exactly why every vote counts I believe the power of young voters is so important okay because we want to see and hear you each and every day that's why lieutenant governor tahisha way is making a push to get more young adults to the polls joining students and staff at Rutgers Camden to kick off the sixth annual ballot Bowl each year my office asks New Jersey's colleges and universities to step up and compete to see who can register the most new voters it is a friendly competition led by you the students and my friends voter registration is the initial step in the process ultimately we want our voters to commit to vote State data shows roughly 6.5 million new jerseyans are registered voters but only 27 percent actually turn out at the polls during off year elections and with youth voters leading the nation in voting during the 2020 election way stressing the importance of always voting make it into a habit and vote in every single election we're talking about School Board elections fire district elections if that's in your hometown State races okay not just the presidential and the Congressional we need you to be at the table every single election voting to me is more than just casting a ballot uh you were using your voice in a way that could impact your community when you vote you're saying that this person or policy represent the values and beliefs that you think should run your nation our state or your community that voice is importing and essential to preserving a democracy this is especially true like the elections this one November we are selecting people who are going to affect our day-to-day lives things like our schools our roads our access to Transportation these effects have a direct impact on us when we choose not to vote we limit the extent our boys can have in selecting the people that make these decisions retired Philadelphia 70 freezing he knows firsthand just how much every vote can count I wasn't really interested in voting I've never really thought about it as much and you know I started to realize a lot of things when I didn't vote you know I started seeing uh winners that I didn't if I would have voted didn't win and they lost by 100 votes that vote could have been my vote helping them out to make it make it better for them and then you know I learned a lot from that so I started to vote and started to see how different changes was going to be made right now a lot of what we hold dear is peril if we don't commit ourselves to understanding our communities understanding the issues going on in our state and in our country we need to use the power of our voting to change what we do not like the deadline to register to vote in this year's general election is October 17th Way and Rutgers Camden faculty say they hope the ballot Bowl will encourage more voters to be committed and continue Civic engagements for NJ Spotlight news I'm Melissa Rose Cooper [Music] [Music]