Drive registers voters

Newly eligible LT students sign up to vote

Drive registers voters

Gaby Sabatino, Reporter

The demographic of young adults from ages 18 to 29 is the smallest group of citizens who register and participate in voting. However, the recent National Voter’s Registration Day has promoted the involvement and attendance of the student body here at LT. With the help of The League of Women Voters, several LT students have had the chance to partake in an event they have never been able to experience before and are now eligible to vote on Nov. 4.

On Sept. 23, the annual voting drive was held at Stone Avenue Station and registered students who would be eligible to vote by Nov. 4. Thousands of citizens across the nation were encouraged to participate and exercise their right to vote in the upcoming elections. The registration forms were distributed either by mail-in registration, online registration or paper registration on site. Dani Gresge ‘15 was one of the first LT seniors to take advantage of this opportunity.

“I think it’s important that I can start now,” Gresge said. “The earlier I get involved the more prepared I’ll be for the future.”

Gresge first heard about the voting drive in her AP Government class when her teacher, David Kruiswyk, announced it, she said.

“We were learning about primary elections and I think that at this point I have formed enough of a political base that I have my own opinion and I thought it would be cool if I could be part of the process,” Gresge said.

The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan group that encourages participation in the political process. LT was one of the main targets the League of Women Voters focused on going into the voting drive. They partnered up with Global Studies Division Chair Paul Houston to get the word out about how the students could get involved.

“I think if you have a democracy it relies on the involvement of our youth,” Houston said, “our society is better off more balanced, more complete if more students are participating.”

All social studies teachers at North Campus were asked to publicize the registration opportunity as well as other forms of communication were used to spread information regarding the importance of student participation. About 50 students were registered in total and 19 had completed paper registrations on site, according to Stephanie Nelson, a founding partner of this annual event voter registration effort and an active member of this organization.