First observed in 2012, National Voter Registration Day is a civic holiday to celebrate democracy in the United States of America, and this year it falls on Sept. 22.

The creation of the National Voter Registration Day was influenced by the millions of Americans who found themselves unable to vote due to a missed registration deadline, an outdated registration, or confusion on where to register. The holiday serves to ensure every eligible voter gets the opportunity to vote and to motivate potential voters who may not register.

The day consists of hundreds of organizations working together with volunteers to help citizens register to vote. Help can be found in workplaces, libraries, college campuses and on social media, which will take part in the National Voter Registration Day through technology and media efforts in order to ensure every citizen has registered to vote.

According to the National Voter Registration Website,

“Social media outreach and in-platform activations by digital partners to help voters register to vote online and find registration drives nearby.”

When asked if social media had made it easier for students to register to vote online, Bryan Cruz, a student at Los Medanos College said,

“Due to social media, current members of society have been exposed to more encouragement of voting. In my opinion, it has been overexposed to us so much that if you have social media and haven’t registered to vote that means you don’t want to vote at all or you just don’t care.”

Facebook, a National Voter Registration Day partner, released an article Sept. 21 that stated,

“Facebook has embarked on the largest voting information campaign in American history, with the goal of helping register 4 million eligible voters in the US this year.”

The article also estimated that social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger have helped 2.5 million citizens register this year.

When asked her thoughts on whether social media has increased the amount of people that register due to social media being widely accessible, LMC student Savannah Pecknold said,

“Social media did play an impactful part in making voter registration easier because of how easily accessible (the) internet is; it definitely helped for me because I kept on forgetting to register! I kept seeing ads and social media posts about registering, which eventually prompted me to finally do it. Especially now, where I’ve seen celebrities such as Ariana Grande encourage her fans to register.”

To find out more about National Voter Registration Day or about registering to vote in general, please visit the official website.