Almost every year, an election is scheduled for municipal, state, or federal offices. Just this month, citizens in the eastern half of North Carolina went to the polls to vote in two special Congressional elections.
In every election and election year, we hear candidates and office-holders explain all the reasons why that year's election is "the most important election in history." Certainly, all of them may be right, every time, since every election is important. People who are elected to serve in public office, at every level of government, hold and use tremendous authority to make changes that affect all of us.
That's especially true for public school educators and our families, because our profession -- in fact, every element of our professional lives and livelihoods -- is governed by public bodies, from local school board and county commission, to the North Carolina General Assembly and our governor, to Congress and the presidency. You know, as I know, that no other profession in America has its compensation, its health care coverage options, its retirement benefits, and its employment rights regulated by elected officials as ours is.
As a high school social studies teacher, I teach American history and government. I emphasize to my students that laws are made by men and women who are elected, and those men and women are elected only by those citizens who vote. If we, and the students we teach, hope to have our voices and interests included in the processes that create policy and enact laws, we have to be citizens who vote.
This November, voters in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County will fill several seats in municipal elections. Of course, next November we'll cast ballots for the state legislature, Congress, the U.S. Senate, and the American presidency.
For the past several decades, the Baby Boom generation represented the largest single group of voters in America. That changed during the past decade, as the combination of Millennials and post-Millennials have overtaken Baby Boomers in numbers. But the younger generation hasn't yet matched Baby Boomers in registering to vote, and in voting.
Those of us who teach in high school have an opportunity -- I view it as an obligation, part of our roles as educators in a democratic republic -- to remind our students of voting age (and students who will be eligible to vote by Election Day) of their opportunity to register to vote. In fact, many of us have kept blank voter registration forms in our classrooms in the past, just for this purpose.
The choice we make -- whether or not to encourage our eligible students to register, and to remind them to vote -- may have long-lasting impact.
I still recall when I registered to vote. Volunteers distributed registration forms at Eastland Mall in Charlotte. I was 17 when I graduated high school but turned 18 on October 7, and it was an election year. Having watched others vote, I was excited to finally have the chance to participate. So I studied all the candidates because, though some of my friends didn't think it was serious, I knew it was. And when I went to vote, others in the long lines took note of my age and told me not to leave, to stay in line, because they also knew it was important.
One thing leads to another. In the next election cycle, I chose to do more than vote: I participated in Mayor Harvey Gantt's 1990 campaign for U.S. Senate. Working alongside many others, I knocked on doors, asked people if they were registered, made sure they knew their polling places, and ensured they had transportation to the polls. Again, the people who opened their doors noticed my youth, complimented me for being active, and urged me to stay engaged.
From the volunteers who helped me register to vote, to the people standing in line with me at the polls, to the people who greeted me at their doors, I've never forgotten the constant reinforcement of this simple principle: It is important to include young women and men in civic life, to help them form good habits of civic participation, and to urge them to seek and take every opportunity to get involved.
In Mecklenburg County, the voter registration form is available online to print, complete, and deliver by hand or by mail to the county Board of Elections office. In order to vote in the November election, the deadline for registration is October 11, by 5 p.m.
This year, as in past years, I intend to urge students I know to register to vote, because it's a practical application of the concepts I teach in my classroom, and because studies show that voters who cast a ballot in the first election once they become eligible are likely to continue voting throughout their lives. Like so many other habits we teach, it's one that can lead to great opportunities and life-shaping experiences.
I hope you will join me in this endeavor.
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