Elena Price hands student a voter registration sheet
Athens Drive’s Young Democrats Club hosted a voter registration that began Feb. 16, 2016. The voter registration took place in order to give young adults without voting experience the opportunity to register for the first time.
The sign-up took place at the gym lobby during lunch. When students arrived to register, they were given a piece of paper which asked them to fill out personal information such as their date of birth, residential address, political party affiliation, and the last four digits of their security number. Within the first day that the registration booth was open, over twenty students registered to vote.
In Wake County, one of the requirements required in order to be able to register to vote is being 17 years old as long as the applier is 18 by the election date. Voting for a candidate does not necessarily have to wait until Election Day; citizens have the opportunity to vote early by completing an absentee ballot in Raleigh for the 2016 primary election. Citizens can register to vote March 3 and must register at least 25 days before election day.
The two major parties in North Carolina are Democratic and Republican. Voters may choose to associate themselves with a party while completing their registration or not; voters can choose to stand as Independent.
Barry Peters, English teacher at Athens Drive, has been voting since he was 18 years old. “I wish citizens had more access to vote, such as a holiday or a weekend set aside for voting,” Peters said.
Studies show that something as simple as a voting location would be enough to change the outcome of a close election. While voting locations vary, the actual voting process has multiple methods as well.
“Citizens can vote multiple ways, such as punching a card or bubbling in scantrons,” Peters said.
Peters would sometimes vote crossparty if he did not like his party’s candidates. Peters added, “Right now, unless there was an extreme, extreme exception, I will vote by party.”
North Carolinian citizens can register and vote at many public service areas, which include the churches, public libraries, as well as public schools.