VAN NUYS—Hundreds of Armenian-American registered to vote through Hye Votes, the ongoing voter registration initiative of the Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region, during the five-day Navasaratian Games and Festival.
Young Hye Votes volunteers, including ANCA-WR Executive Interns, were omnipresent throughout the Games, wearing t-shirts and crisscrossing the grounds with clipboards ready to register any willing and eligible individual.
The Navsartian Games and Festival, which has become an annual tradition for the Los Angeles Armenian community, attracts thousands of attendees. The Games, the largest Armenian athletic event outside of Armenia, culminate in a closing ceremony which this year had present a number of notable figures in government, including Congressmen Howard Berman and Brad Sherman, Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian, Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel, and candidates for California State Assembly Adrin Nazarian and Greg Krikorian.
Few, if any, attendees did not know about the voter registration program, either having been approached by a Hye Votes volunteer, seeing the balloons tied to every chair at the Festival, or hearing one of the many announcements from the stage.
“The significant level of excitement about Hye Votes and especially about seeing young people actively involved in registering new voters was evident among the Festival’s attendees,” said Tereza Yerimyan, External Affairs Deputy of the ANCA-WR. She continued, “This was the first large event we attended with Hye Votes and we intend to register thousands more new voters in the coming months.”
Hye Votes is a project of the ANCA-Western Region to encourage higher civic participation in the community through voter registration and voting. Individuals who have not registered to vote or have moved residences since their last registration may register online.
A new pool of jury duty candidates!
If you’re a citizen of the state you’re living in, you’re already a candidate for jury duty. If you’ve ever been to the DMV, you’re a candidate for jury duty. Registering to vote doesn’t mean you magically get put onto the list.
Keep up the good work.
Off topic: Armavia, the national airline of Armenia has increased the price of tickets from Aleppo to Yerevan.
That is just despicable. I think it should be free when you consider the dire situation for the Syrian Armenians and their willingness to immigrate to their homeland. If the travelers are going just for touristic purposes and not to permanently resettle in Armenia they should pay the normal fare.