The League of Women Voters of Bucks County has announced the winners of their first student video contest. The first prize of $500 was awarded to Amy Liu, a senior at Central Bucks High School South. The second prize was awarded to Roshan Hoban, Jack McGrath, and Vincent Tang, 7th graders at Newtown Middle School. The third prize of $100 was awarded to Ashton Bender, a senior at Central Bucks High School South.
Open to all Bucks County students, the LWVBC Get Out & Vote PSA Contest challenged contestants to create a one-minute video highlighting the importance of voting in local elections. The target audience of their creations was to be young voters and recently engaged voters. A team of League members judged the videos on many measures, including the clarity of videos explaining how local elected officials impact our lives.
Many students competed in the contest, noted Connie Borichevsky, chair of the video contest committee. "We were pleased to receive many creative videos produced by our clever Bucks County students. They presented information on the importance of local elections and encouraged voters to turn out for the Municipal Primary on Tuesday, May 18.”
Early estimates from CIRCLE, the nonpartisan, independent research organization based at Tufts University, is that 52 – 55% of youth voted in the presidential election of 2020, a significant increase from 2016. The percentage of youth that tried to convince other youth to vote, based on pre-election 2018 and 2020 surveys by CIRCLE, rose from 33 to 50 %. Similarly, young people's registering others to vote, participating in campaigns, and volunteering for a political campaign all reflected greater engagement.
The League’s Get Out & Vote PSA Contest was offered to bring that same enthusiasm and momentum for first-time voters and recently engaged voters to the important municipal races. View the winning videos at the League of Women Voters of Bucks County YouTube channel. View the 1st place winning video at http://bit.ly/1stPlacePSA. A direct link to the 2nd place winning video is http://bit.ly/2ndPlacePSA and view the 3rd place winning video at http://bit.ly/3rdPlacePSA .
The League also offers a guide to ballot issues and candidates on www.Vote411.org. This nonpartisan platform allows candidates the opportunity to upload answers to biographical questions and questions on issues in their own words to help inform voters. Candidates for the Bucks County municipal races on the May 18 ballot have been provided an emailed invitation and link to provide their information. Vote411 also offers information for first-time voters, information on polling locations, and much more. People choosing to register to vote, or who may need to confirm they are correctly registered, should visit the official Pennsylvania website, VotesPA.com. Bucks County has launched its 2021 Municipal Primary Information Portal with helpful election and voting information https://buckscounty.org.
