When Colby College sophomores Anthony Simescu and Olivia Oeltjen cast their ballot in the fall election, it will be the first time they’ve been able to vote in a presidential race.

“I think at all turns, this election has been unprecedented,” said Simescu, 19. “That word is thrown around a lot but I think it truly is. If there was ever a time to be civically engaged, now is the time.”

Simescu and Oeltjen, also 19, are both government majors and are student leaders of Colby Votes, a group working to get all students on campus registered ahead of the Nov. 5 election. On Tuesday, they helped organize a voter registration drive on campus that featured custom printed tote bags that read “Hot People Vote” and a taco truck that set up shop nearby.

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows stopped by as well as part of a tour of high school and college campuses on National Voter Registration Day.

Statewide, interest is high in the election in which voters will choose a president and in Maine, a U.S. senator, two members of Congress and all 186 members of the Legislature.

“This year already, year to date, we have more voter registrations than we did in 2020,” Bellows said. “So clearly Mainers are excited, they are ready and they are getting registered.”

One thing driving registrations is a new online portal where voters can register or change their address or party enrollment. The state rolled out the system in February and last Thursday — two days after the presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris — the site set a new one-day record with 2,440 visits.

Maine is one of the leading states in the nation in terms of voter registration, with 75% of eligible voters signed up to cast ballots as of November 2022, according to KFF, a national research firm formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation.

To register, voters must be a Maine resident and a U.S. citizen. While someone can register to vote at age 16, only those who are 18 on or before Nov. 5 can vote.

Those who are registering for the first time must provide proof of residency and identity. Residency can be proven with a tax return or hunting license or utility bill.

Identity can be verified with a driver’s license, military ID or state issued ID card.

Elizabeth Jabar, the Lowery Family Dean of Civic Engagement at Colby, said Colby Votes explains to students the process of voting absentee in their home states or registering to vote with a Waterville address.

“In 2020, we got 93% of our campus registered and 86% of our campus voted, which was a huge jump from 2016,” she said. “We feel great about those numbers.”

Simescu said one of his reasons for being involved in the voter registration drive is the relatively low number of people in the U.S. who exercise their right to vote.

The U.S. ranked 31st in the world among 49 countries with national elections in 2020, when about 63% of the voting age population cast ballots, according to the Pew Research Center.

“You consider the fact that the United States has one of the lowest voting rates throughout developed nations in the world, particularly low for young, first-time voters like us,” he said. “I think it’s super important to create that habit of being civically engaged and it starts by taking the first step and voting in your first election.”

Oeltjen said she can tell students are interested in the election. Colby Votes moved the Trump v. Harris debate watch party to a bigger venue when more people than expected showed up to watch, she said.

“It’s felt pressing my entire life, which is why I’m a government major and why I want to work towards making policy and advocating for voting rights,” she said.

To access the online voter registration portal, go to maine.gov/vote through Oct. 15. Maine also allows voters to register on the day of the election, which must be done in person at a local municipality.