When senior Eric Manuel reflects on his job helping voters at the Susan Lindgren polling site, he feels happy being more aware of the complex election system.

“I feel like I am less naive because there’s a lot of the procedures and laws you start to learn working there,” Manuel said.

According to 9th grade civics and economics teacher Brandy Siddiqui, there are many different opportunities for students to participate beyond voting.

“They can volunteer for different campaigns, watch the elections or read about them, like the debates. Even local government and politics is really helpful,” Siddiqui said.

Victoria Caraballo, freshman member of the Youth Development Committee (YDC), said she participated in a door knocking event to encourage voting.

“We went around knocking on doors to get people to go vote, and also we went to specific areas that usually don’t go out to vote,” Caraballo said.

Caraballo said she recommends students get involved in door knocking as a way to generate a large voter turnout.

“It would be a great idea if students got more involved in the elections this year because this year we really need the votes,” Caraballo said.

Siddiqui said she hopes students get involved because the political system has an effect on multiple parts of the country.

“It’s super important — government impacts everything. The things that are going to happen are going to impact future generations. The government regulates everything whether its economy, education or schools,” Siddiqui said.

Manuel said other students can also participate by simply signing up to volunteer at polling sites.

“Usually, they are put as greeters where they greet the people who are coming in, make sure they’re on the right precinct, and this year they might actually be helping us judges by making sure people are getting processed,” Manuel said.