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Chicago high school hosts teen voter registration drive

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Published  September 10, 2024 12:41pm CDT
Election
FOX 32 Chicago

South Side high school celebrates Teen Voter Registration Day

Students from several area schools were welcomed to Leo High School in Gresham for Teen Voter Registration Day. Teenagers signed up and learned about their civic duty.

CHICAGO - One South Side high school held a voter registration drive for Chicago students on Tuesday to celebrate Teen Voter Registration Day.

Teenagers from area high schools went to Leo High School in Gresham to register or pre-register to vote.

Having it at school made it easy.

Board of Elections registrars and volunteers took 16, 17 and 18-year-olds through the process. A state ID or driver’s license is required. Many just got that document when the Illinois Secretary of State’s office sent a mobile unit to the school.

If a teen turns 18 before Nov, 5, they can vote in the next presidential election. The lesson was about the importance of civic engagement.

Derion Washington’s 18th birthday is in October. He will get to vote in November. He said the adults tell them they should embrace the responsibility. 

Voter registration for local teens underway at Leo High School

Chicago teenagers are getting a helping hand as they register to vote for the upcoming election. Leo High School is hosting a registration drive today for students across the city.

"We’re the future. We're the next generation of adults," Washington said.

One senior came over from St. Francis de Sales High School. 

Most people my age don't realize how important these things are. These things are going to affect us today and our children later on and if we don’t focus on them now and try to get things solved and situated now, it’s going to hurt us in the long run," Lance Walton said.

Leo High School Principal Shaka Rawls said the key to getting young people to vote is to talk to them, not at them.  

"I think too many times we don’t listen to young people. We see them at 31st Street Beach or at the downtown takeovers, but we don’t listen to them and this is the opportunity for young folks to have a voice and for us to listen to them," Rawls said.

The adults said getting teens to register is easy. Getting them to actually vote is still a challenge. Tuesday's event produced potentially a hundred or more new voters in Chicago.