From Tuesday, September 20 – Wednesday the 21st, Apex High School hosted a Voter Registration Drive to encourage students at the school to register and subsequently vote in the upcoming election. As long as they brought with them a sort of identification, students were able to register. The drive was sponsored by Apex High’s own Political Club, and much of it was prepared and set up by the Club’s advisor, Mrs. Pettifer. 

The Political Club President, Hadi Rahim, expressed the importance of registration and the drive being held here. “Turnout among young people in this country has been shamefully low, especially during midterm elections (occurring this fall on Tuesday, November 8th). Elections are important because they determine how the country that you live in is run. Not just federal elections, but local ones especially have a big effect on people’s day to day lives.” When asked why younger students are encouraged more to vote, he said that  “state governments have a lot of control over college. So, for a lot of high schoolers who plan to go to a state college, voting matters.”

While he was not allowed to help in the registration process (as high school students are not allowed to handle the ballots), he did say that he helped in bringing candy as an incentive. He also walked around his lunch period spreading word about the drive going on in hopes to draw a larger crowd. 

I was also able to talk to Ms. Pettifer to learn a little more about how the drive was set up. “I worked with a representative from the county to get the materials to do the drive, and the county works with the Wake County Board of Elections, but we were given a lot of freedom to carry out the drive as we saw best. There were still a lot of regulations we have to follow, and it was a Wake County effort. All the schools in the county were holding their drives on the same day, because it was national registration day. Through the guidelines from the county we were able to kind of establish how it would look at our school.”

Just like Hadi added, she explained how important it is for our age group to take action this election season and have our voices heard. “The demographic that show up least is the age range from 18-24, and those are the people that will most likely live the longest with the decisions the government is currently making, so if the people who are most affected by these policy changes are not voting, then the chances are they will not be happy with the decisions the government is making. Plus, it is something people have literally fought and died for our right to vote, and it’s such a simple thing to do. Obviously I believe everybody should do it, but I think it’s important for kids to know that it’s not a scary thing, and it’s not the scariest thing. If you know where to find resources and know who to talk to, you can easily make a plan to vote, and that is your number one way to have your voice heard in government.” 

Just because the voter registration drive may be done at our school, voter registration is always open and can be completed online at any time. It can not be stressed enough how important turning out to vote is, especially to the younger generation, so we can create a brighter future for ourselves. So get out there and vote!