BOSTON – No matter how you get your news, it’s hard to miss that this is an election year. But to the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts (LWVMA), there’s a topic more important than who will ultimately be the Democratic or the Republican presidential candidate.

The LWVMA is worried about young voters and their continued lack of participation in the election process.    

“There is a very big split between the youth vote – the 18 to 29 year olds  – and the 30 and over voter,” Meryl Kessler, LWVMA executive director, explained.

To spotlight this problem, the LWVMA is inviting Massachusetts high schoolers to create a 30-second public service announcement encouraging young people to register to vote and cast a ballot on Election Day 2016.

The contest, called ‘YOUth Should Vote” runs from Feb. 1 to March 31, is open to students in all public and private high schools across the state. The top three submissions will be awarded prizes of $1,000, $500 and $250 respectively, and will also be publicized across the state.

Judging – which will look at the clarity, message content, delivery and creativity of each submission – will take place in April, with winners announced in May.  All entries must include a link to the state’s online voter registration system at https://www.sec.state.ma.us/ovr/.  More info and the official contest rules, including how to submit an entry, are available online at www.lwvma.org.   

“This contest is absolutely aimed at young people who are voting because they are 18, or will be voting [in the near future],” Kessler said, adding the League’s “hope in running this contest is to motivate the youth vote and to have young people encouraging other young people to get out there and vote.”

Kessler said 2016 is the perfect year to highlight youth voting, as the State Legislature recently passed a bill that will make it easier for young people to register to vote.

“There was legislation at the end of 2014 passed on Beacon Hill that allowed for election modifications [which] allows for 16 and 17 year-olds to preregister to vote,” Kessler said, adding that preregistration could either take place online “or at the RMV (registry of motor vehicles) when they get their driving permits or licenses.”

Once preregistered, teens would automatically become eligible to vote in all state and national elections when they turn 18.

“We’re really awaiting more information from the Secretary of State’s office with specifics on how this will work,” she said. The hope is that the mechanism will be in place by late summer.

Kessler noted the same legislation also now allows for Massachusetts citizens to register to vote, or change their voting status, online.

“It’s really brilliant and makes voting as accessible as possible for people,” she added.

This is the third year that the LWVMA has sponsored a video-based awareness contest for Massachusetts high school students.  In 2015, Longmeadow High School students Susanita Carvajal, Eric Kaim, Jordan Chase, Matt Friedrich and Jill Stockley won the $500 second place prize for their two-minute submission, ”Statutory Rape,” in the League’s “There Oughta Be a Law” contest.