Features

Seniors exercise their right to vote

From Issue 4

By Mary Patton Murphy, Copy Editor|November 26, 2018

In the recent midterm elections, several Prep seniors who turned eighteen before voting day hit the polls and voted for the first time. These students who were eligible to vote registered thirty days before the election and indicated on their registration that they would be eighteen on voting day. Because of this, some seniors were seventeen at the time that they registered.

To register, many students filled out forms provided by Prep teachers and sent them to the local election office while other students registered in person at the office of the Secretary of State.

Senior Travis Hudgins was one of the seniors to register. He said, “I registered to vote a couple months ago, but I wasn’t in the system yet, so I had to write in my ballot. Other than that, voting went smoothly.”

Other seniors who exercised their rights to vote on November 6 included Chandler Usry, Jordan Headley, Pierce Goodwin, and AnnAdair Blackledge.

Blackledge said, “It was very exciting to vote, but it made me feel old. We must take advantage of the gift to vote.”

These Prep seniors will also have the option of voting in the run-off election between Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy on November 27. Senior Pierce Goodwin said, “I will be participating in the run-off because this is when voter participation really makes a difference.”