Increasing voter turnout and political awareness are two major goals of Secretary of State candidate Chet Culver, who visited the Story County Courthouse in Nevada Thursday.

“I’m going to try to show people the ways they can be involved in politics,” said the Democrat from Des Moines.

Iowa’s Secretary of State serves as the state commissioner of elections. The position is currently held by Paul Pate, who is pursuing the Republican nomination for governor.

Culver’s visit was part of a four-day tour of 30 Iowa counties.

Culver, 32, is a government and history teacher and coach at Hoover High School in Des Moines. He has also served on the Iowa Attorney General’s task force on juvenile crime and as an investigator in the consumer protection and environmental divisions of the attorney general’s office.

Culver said one of his objectives is encouraging young people and college students to become politically conscious.

“We’re going to work with young people and tell them how their voices can be heard,” he said.

Although Culver admitted he didn’t have a perfect voting record while earning his bachelor of arts in political science at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, he said he wanted to make voting easier for college students.

“I realize a lot of the challenges young people face going through school,” he said.

Culver cited confusion about voter registration and eligibility as reasons college students don’t vote and said he would work to simplify the registration process as Secretary of State.

Young people are affected when they don’t vote, Culver said, and he said he wants to show them the issues that affect them, such as student loans, scholarships, tuition, housing and alcohol issues.

He also said technological advances could be used to make voting more easily accessible.

“Young people are experts at [technology],” he said.

Culver said he plans to visit high schools and college campuses during his campaign and after the election to inform students about political issues and opportunities.

During his time as a teacher, Culver said he has had success fostering political awareness through letter-writing campaigns in his classes and by having students volunteer in political campaigns.

Culver got his start in politics early, growing up as the son of former U.S. Congressman and Senator John Culver. Chet Culver has worked for several campaigns in the past 10 years.

After attending Virginia Tech, he earned his master’s degree in teaching from Drake University in 1994.

Culver will face Ned Miller of Windsor Heights in today’s primary election for the Democratic nomination for Secretary of State. John Gilliland of West Des Moines is running unopposed for the Republican nomination.