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Voting should be easy, accessible and habitual. That’s the message that Karen Castor Dentel, Orange County Supervisor of Elections (SOE) sought to convey Tuesday with the raft of initiatives unveiled at a morning press conference at Edgewater High School in College Park in advance of the 2026 midterm elections.
The centerpiece is a new Civic Advisory Council made up of several focus groups that will represent the county’s different communities and demographics. In a nod to Gen-Z, the first focus group will be comprised of high-schoolers from the county’s 23 high schools. They will be tasked with launching voter-registration drives in their schools.
“We’re trying to be very proactive in starting with our young students, making sure that they know that this is a priority that should be a priority for their adult life,” said Castor Dentel.
“Research shows that students who are both encouraged and taught how to vote in high school have a much higher rate of participation after high school, both in voting and in civic engagement in general,” said Rev. Kathy Schmitz, League of Women Voters of Orange County’s Co-President, who joined Castor Dentel for the press conference. She added that first-time voters are “much more likely to follow through” when they have specifics about registration, where to find nonpartisan information and the choices for casting their ballot.
Ricardo Negrón-Almodóvar of the advocacy group All Voting is Local, noted that only 34 percent of eligible voters in Florida are registered to vote.
“That means that there are still millions of Floridians who are not actively participating in our democracy," he said. "Our country works best when all voices are heard.” He urged unregistered voters to get registered. He added that while more than 11 million Floridians voted in 2024, voters 18 to 24 had the lowest turnout.
The SOE is running pre-registration programs at 18 of the county’s 23 high schools in which teens pre-register to vote at 16 so they are automatically registered once they turn 18. They do tabling events in May for graduating seniors to register as they turn in their caps and gowns. The SOE will also be at local colleges and universities registering students.
“We’re trying to supplement on the front end and do a lot more education as well,” Castor Dentel, who served on the Orange County School Board before being elected as Supervisor of Elections last year, told VoxPopuli. “You know, what does it mean to vote and have your voice heard? What is a right to vote?”
The SOE also participates in high schools’ student government elections and the Sunshine State Young Readers Award, getting young students to vote on their favorite books.
“We’re trying to demystify the whole process and make [voting] a normal thing to do,” Castor Dentel said.
Starting today — Constitution Day — the SOE kicked off an elementary school “I Voted” sticker contest to design the stickers given to voters after they’ve cast their ballots. Winning designs from each school will be displayed in the SOE Kaley Street office.
“We wanted to make sure that we planted the seeds of democracy for the next generation of voters,” Castor Dentel said.
“This is so important to have voter registration drives at high school because we need to teach them early. But you’ve done one better; you’re at the elementary school level,” said Orange County School Board Member Vicki-Elaine Felder of District 5. “We are trying to get that mindset right because America is still beautiful. It’s still the land of the free and the home of the brave. And I think we need to encourage our young people to participate in this endeavor regardless of what’s going on. It’s healthy because they need to see that this is life. This is the world. But you can do something about it.”
Castor Dentel added that Orange County voters should also be on the lookout for address confirmation requests that’s being sent out to all voters “help us maintain our accurate voter roll.”
