Young followers of #NeverAgain are old enough to vote – and promise to show up.

On March 14, nearly the entire student body of Monterey High School marched in the rain to protest for stricter gun control laws and to remember students who died in mass shootings. The nationwide walkout was part of the #NeverAgain movement, which formed after decades of shootings caught national attention, from Columbine High School in Colorado to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

There were some tangible results in response to the shootings and students walkouts. Some states changed their gun laws. Some businesses stopped selling assault rifles or bailed on their partnerships with the National Rifle Association.

Locally, students marching aren’t just waiting for grown-ups to act. They’re going to the polls themselves.

Paige Axton, a graduate of Monterey High and now a freshman at Monterey Peninsula College, and Emma Garcia, a graduate of Salinas High School and now a freshman at CSU Monterey Bay, have helped register or pre-register around 200 of their peers, many of whom are voting for the first time. Both Axton and Garcia were part of the #NeverAgain movement at their respective campuses.

Since 2010, their age group – 18-24 – has averaged below 10-percent voter turnout in California. In 2016, that figure jumped to 17.9 percent, still well below the statewide average of 58.7 percent.

“There are so many people ages 18 and 24 who don’t educate themselves in politics properly, except for Twitter or Facebook,” Axton says.

Only keeping up with trending national politics is “depressing,” she says, and there are crucial elections to focus on that can make a difference in the day-to-day. This Election Day will decide on 36 gubernatorial seats, 435 congressional seats and 35 U.S. Senate seats. State propositions, local ballot measures and numerous local leadership positions stand to shape the prospects of college students like Axton and Garcia.

Garcia is volunteering for Assemblymember Anna Caballero’s, D-Salinas, campaign for State Senate. To her, a larger youth turnout this election means breaking out of the apathetic stereotypes associated with her age group – even if it means not advocating for the same ideas.

“It doesn’t matter if not everybody agrees with me,” Garcia says. “It’s about saying checks and balances do work and that every voice counts.”

For both Axton and Garcia, the #NeverAgain movement still feels fresh, and voting presents one way to change the tide. “That could’ve been any of us,” Garcia says. “I don’t feel safe – not yet.”