By 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, Henderson County had gained 30 new registered voters.
North Henderson High students in Sue Moon’s Honors Social Studies and Leadership classes were helping fellow students and teachers exercise their civic right by registering them to vote, or updating voter registration information.
Whether or not it’s a presidential election year, the League of Women Voters of Henderson County annually makes an effort to impart to students turning 18 the importance of their vote in local, state, and federal government. This year when the League approached North, Moon’s students jumped into action.
In addition to publicizing the free voter registration event to students, the classes advertised to parents of students at Apple Valley Middle, and its feeder elementary schools. They also set up and manned the registration booth Tuesday during all three lunches, and they learned how to register voters.
Moon said Caren Kessler, the League’s Head of Voter Rights, met with students prior to the registration day about how they could help League volunteers register new voters.
“The kids were so excited that she decided she would train them,” Moon said. “They’re actually registering voters,” she said, nodding to the growing group of students clustered around the registration table.
Moon’s seniors Breeanna H. and Seth C. said hosting this event for their school was especially important to them because they learned that not all their classmates knew the steps to take to be able to vote.
Seth said he grew up in the Boy Scouts learning about the right to vote. He said, “I consider voting to be a civic duty.”
However, Breeanna said, “Some of our fellow classmates didn’t even know that they were supposed to register, or how.”
The pair joined Moon’s other students in educating their peers, and 15 minutes into the school’s first lunch, they and League volunteers had registered 30 new voters.
“And this is only first lunch,” Breeanna said. “We have two more.”
By the end of the day Tuesday, they’d registered more than 160 voters.
– By Molly McGowan Gorsuch
Public Information Officer
