Feb. 3 marked the last day Shelby County voters could be registered for the March primary elections.
"It is too late for people to register for the March primary," said Linda Phillips, the Administrator of Elections at the Shelby County Elections Commission. "But anyone who isn't already registered can register before July 7 and still vote in the Shelby County general election."
The population cohort in Shelby County with the lowest number of voters is the 18-29 year old range, and the Iowa caucus vote has shown that it is not too early to be thinking about this year's elections.
Approximately 563,000 people are registered to vote in Shelby County.
Mar. 3 marks the primary elections where voters choose which candidates they want to represent their party in the upcoming electoral races.
Primary elections tend to draw about 30% of the registered voters, while general elections draw 60-65% of voters.
"A lot of people don't want to vote in a primary election," Phillips said. "A lot of people don't want to pre-commit to a party."
When asked about the relatively low percentages even in general elections, Phillips cited inactive voters as one of the primary reasons Shelby County's voter percentages do not include almost one third of those registered.
"I believe that it is the case that most of Shelby County leans heavily Democratic," said Kris Stella Trump, an associate professor of political science at the University of Memphis. "This means that whoever wins the nomination is almost guaranteed to get that position. The real competition is inside the Democratic Party and the more important the primary becomes."
Some students fail to register because they simple do not care, while others may have experienced some obstacle or failure of communication.
"Some of the things that we know affect student turnout negatively are thing like having to re-register," Trump said. "This extends to other problems such as knowing your voting location or being unsure of if you need to re-register, in the cases of students from outside Memphis."
Phillips also mentioned this kind of confusion as a complicating factor for would-be voters.
"To register to vote in Tennessee, you need a Tennessee or federal ID," Phillips said. "And you do need to register to vote where you live, or where you are returning to, like with students from other cities or states."
Wesley White is a senior biology major who is registered to vote in Tennessee, but not in Shelby County, because he does not live in Memphis.
"I am absolutely voting in the primary," White said. "This is something I was raised into; that you always have an obligation to go vote."
Karsyn Laufenberg is a junior creative mass media major who has not yet registered to vote. She said she was unlikely to vote in the Aug. Shelby County elections, but she did want to vote in the November presidential election.
"I don't really pay attention to politics, but with a presidential election, I feel a need to go vote," Laufenberg said.
Joshua Bagoyado, a junior psychology major who has registered to vote, said he would vote in the general elections, and would try to vote in the primary election.
"I intend to vote, but scheduling issues might be a problem," Bagoyado said. "The November election will be big, but voting in general is important to having your voice heard. People have died for our right to vote, and it feels disrespectful not to vote."
