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California Secretary of State to visit UCSB in effort to bolster voter turnout

Wikipedia user: Coolcaesar

California's Secretary of State Alex Padilla will be at UC Santa Barbara Thursday to speak with students about the importance of voting. 

Padilla said that he and a lot of others in the political world were dismayed by 2014's record low voter turnout in California.

He said that getting more people involved in the political process is important. With a school like UCSB, where there are thousands registered to vote, he said their participation, could really shape an election.

He said that getting people to participate is the tough part.

"If we had the magic wand, we'd be using it already," said Padilla. "Last year's record low turnout in California was a reminder that we have our work cut out for us... it may be flashy marketing campaigns, for some people it may be social media outreach, for some people it may take that personal, face-to-face connection."

He will be on a college and university tour over the next couple of weeks.

Padilla is also supporting the "motor voter" bill, which changes the DMV's opt-in formula to an opt-out scenario. 

It was approved Wednesday by the Assembly Elections Committee.