All around Montgomery County on Tuesday, citizens were asked to “Get Ready!” for the national election on Nov. 3.
Tuesday was National Voter Registration Day and from Ladoga to Wingate, from North Montgomery High School to Southmont High School and Crawfordsville High School, and at various locations around town, citizens were given an in-person chance to register to vote, to check their registration status and to pick up applications for absentee ballots.
At tables, everyone could pick up a handy card listing all the places and dates for early voting and for polling places on Election Day.
“We’re working with anyone who might not be registered, people whose addresses have changed and people who want absentee ballot request,” Hellen Hudson said outside the Montgomery County Courthouse Tuesday. “We’ve got five stations going today — that doesn’t mean we won’t have more opportunities for people around the community.
“The last day you can register is Oct. 5 — you have to be registered a month before (the General Election Nov. 3),” she added.
The largest number of new voters being registered this month will come from Montgomery County public high schools and Crawfordsville homeschooling programs.
“We hope to register upwards of 50 students on Tuesday using the ‘Time to Vote!’ curriculum (provided by the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County and the League of Women Voters of Indiana),” Sean Gerold, U.S. government teacher at Crawfordsville High School, said. “As a government teacher, one of my goals is to teach students how they can be engaged in society and participate in the political process. There is no greater responsibility as a citizen of our great country than voting and it is the easiest way to participate in politics. Every election is important and it is important for your voice to be heard.”
Reasley Thompson, U.S. government teacher at Southmont High School, fully agrees.
“I think any time we can get our students to be active participants in the community and in elections, it’s a great indication that our students care about the future.”
Thompson reports that Southmont had actually begun doing a registration drive before League reached out with the “Time to Vote!” curriculum. While teachers did not keep track of numbers at Southmont, most who are qualified to vote are now registered. The same is true at the other two high schools, or will be by the end of the week.
“When we did the drive and activity in class,” Thompson said, “the students were excited to be active participants in the election. The students are definitely showing more enthusiasm for this election than the last two presidential elections that I have taught.”
North Montgomery Schools was also a full participant in the “Time to Vote!” program. Crawfordsville’s homeschooling program currently has a class of six U.S. government students.
Their teacher, Paula Dodd, has reached out on behalf of her students. League of Women Voters of Montgomery County members will bring the home school students the “Time to Vote!” program as well.
The Voter Registration campaign began on Saturday when the League of Women Voters reached15-30 first-time registrants at the Farmers’ Market and at the Black Lives Matter Community Conversations program.
A young man noted as he filled out the simple registration form, “I just never got around to it.”
