LOS ANGELES — Traditionally, young voters have the lowest turnout rates nationwide and in California, but social media memes have lit a new political fire under Generation Z.

If the future is in the hands of the next generation, 19-year-old Aashi Jhawer said they're well equipped to handle the changing times. She's the co-executive director for Voters of Tomorrow, a Gen Z organization that civically engages and empowers young voters. 

“Civic engagement and progressive policy is really the forefront of all change," she explained.

She and a group of teenagers who are members of Voters of Tomorrow have mobilized to assemble voter registration kits for local high schools and community colleges in their latest effort to encourage young people to get to the polls in November. 

As the director of the Chicano Studies Research Center, UCLA Professor Veronica Terriquez said she's conducted extensive research on youth voting trends that reveal young voters are motivated by environmental justice, health and education.

“Gen Z cares about their communities," she explained. "They care about each other and when provided the proper information about how elections matter to their everyday lives, to the lives of their families, their communities, they vote."