In FIRST VOTE, SFSU’s multimedia journalism students featured first time voters from all across the Bay Area: Anahi Ruvalcaba, Augustine Aranda, Chanel Payne, Christian Cabang, Jordan Wong, Naya Flores, Marianne Hurst and Paul Brett. Their reasons for voting differ, spanning from feelings about the presidential election to decisions on local policy. Our subjects join over 8.5 million Californians who have voted so far, a huge influx in comparison to 2016, according to CalMatters. We have also seen early voting records break all across the country.

While it’s too soon to know how that record turnout will translate on election day, the immense early voting numbers suggest a high level of passion for participating in the election process this year, despite the challenges of a pandemic.

Music: Feel About Us (instrumental version) – Lu-Ni from Epidemic Sound