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At a time of growing social advocacy among college athletes, nine local members of the University of Hawaii athletics teams are in the forefront of a video campaign urging their peers and fans to register to vote.
“C’mon, Hawaii, it takes less then two minutes to register to vote,” Rainbow Warrior quarterback Chevan Cordeiro says while firing a pass in a public service video scheduled to debut Monday.
The 19-29 age group has traditionally constituted the smallest voter segment in Hawaii and the push to register voters comes as the July 9 online registration deadline for the primary election looms. The deadline for the general election is Oct. 5.
“I care about our future,” Rainbow Wahine soccer player Kelci Sumida says in telling viewers that registering to vote is, “faster than driving across the field to score a goal.”
Zak Noyle, creative director for Every1ne Hawaii, a nonprofit, non-partisan collaborative composed of nextgen influencers, said, “We wanted to be able to give them that voice and platform to talk about what is very important to them with all the various issues happening across the nation.”
By using UH athletes, “who are Hawaii’s teams, we felt we could reach a great demographic that is Hawaii’s students,” Noyle said.
David Matlin, UH athletic director, said, “We are very proud that several of our student-athletes are partnering with Every1ne Hawaii to encourage their peers to register to vote and engage in the democratic process. Every1ne has been a great community partner and this initiative has provided an opportunity for our student-athletes to propose change in voter participation via this nonpartisan initiative.”
“It was a next step since this is such an important election on so many levels,” Noyle said.
Athletes also taking part included Natasha Currence (track), Kralyn Salazar (Wahine golf), Ka’ena Keliinoi (softball), Alaka’i Todd (men’s volleyball), Andre Ilagan (men’s tennis), Zoar Nedd (men’s basketball) and Kyra Hanawahine (Wahine volleyball).
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