Utah voting rights advocates hold rally ahead of June primary

SALT LAKE CITY — Celeste Dorantes, an intern with the League of Girls Voters of Salt Lake Metropolis, is dedicating herself to rallying Utah’s younger voices.

“I discovered that a variety of my associates aren’t registered,” she mentioned. “Just a few weeks in the past, I used to be asking them… ‘You guys are registered to vote, proper?’ They usually’re like, ‘I do not know, I do not suppose so.’”

Voting is an motion that speaks louder than phrases, mentioned Dorantes.

“I see lots of people going out and protesting, marching,” she mentioned. “I do not simply see that many really voting or doing one thing on the technical degree, and in case you have such passionate views, why do not you place them into legislation?”

With Utah’s June twenty eighth major lower than a month away, the League of Girls Voters, together with the ACLU and different teams, have been planning this “Defend Democracy & Voting Rights” rally for months.

Saturday was a cultural celebration of Utah’s variety, mentioned Ivoni Masch, this system director for the Nationwide Tongan American Society.

“It is actually vital for individuals like us to have a voice in a desk and to be represented,” she mentioned.

Masch got here to Utah greater than 50 years in the past when she was simply 17 years outdated.

“That is my dwelling now,” mentioned Masch. “And my mother and father moved right here, my brothers and sisters moved right here, and we name Salt Lake Metropolis dwelling.”

The Nationwide Tongan American Society has been advocating for Salt Lake’s Pacific Islander inhabitants for greater than twenty years, she mentioned.

“I am so proud and I am so completely happy, and it is actually, it is a dream come true,” she mentioned. “As a result of once I moved over right here, we didn’t contain something like this.”

Utah residents can register to vote by going to their county clerk in individual, mailing in a paper type, or registering on-line. The deadline to register to vote for the June major is Friday, June 17 at 5 p.m. The final day to request a mail-in poll is June 21, though some polling places may have same-day registration.

Extra data on registering to vote may be discovered at vote.utah.gov.