'The start of something:' ​​How a newly registered voter in western Colorado is preparing for the 2024 election

This story was published in the Glenwood Springs Post Independent, Vail Daily and Summit Daily News on Oct. 29, 2024 and appears here by permission.

By Taylor Cramer/Glenwood Springs Post Independent

Growing up in the small town of Holyoke, Colorado, politics wasn’t something that caught Jessica Mosqueda’s interest right away. But now, five years after turning 18, the 23-year-old Colorado Mountain College Spring Valley campus student is ready to make her voice heard.

Mosqueda is one of 257 newly registered voters in Garfield County, up from 97 newly registered voters in 2020, according to the Colorado Secretary of State, marking a wave of new participation ahead of the November election. For Mosqueda, this moment of civic engagement came with a bit of a nudge — from her American government class at CMC.

“We’ve been learning about Congress and how the system works,” Mosqueda said. “It’s still kind of confusing, but we’ve been reading 'The Bill of Obligations' (by Richard Haass) in class, and that really opened my eyes. My professor was the one who encouraged me to register, and I thought, ‘Why not?'”

The rest of the story:

‘The start of something:’ ​​Newly registered voter in Garfield County prepares for first election