Prince William Co. student helps dozens of eligible classmates register to vote

When Woodbridge Excessive Faculty senior Penelope Nowell-Shortt realized that an October birthday meant she could be sufficiently old to vote in time for Election Day, the Virginia teenager thought of whether or not her classmates could be equally wanting to register.

She’s all the time been excited by public coverage and legal justice and in between school functions and schoolwork, she thought of methods she could possibly assist different college students register to vote for the primary time, too.

So, Nowell-Shortt requested the steering counselors on the Prince William County faculty what number of of her classmates could be eligible to vote by Election Day. She discovered it might be about 100.

Earlier this fall, Nowell-Shortt launched a voter-registration drive throughout the faculty’s lunch intervals for an entire week. Seventy-two folks approached the desk to register, she mentioned.

“It’s very nice that we will begin a civic engagement,” Nowell-Shortt mentioned. “So not solely is it vital that we vote (in) this election, but when we encourage younger voters to vote this election, then sooner or later elections to return, they may even be current.”

Throughout that week in September, Nowell-Shortt made certain she did sufficient analysis to speak concerning the course of and have significant conversations. They weren’t partisan, she mentioned, and different college students joined her efforts to empower their friends to register if eligible.

It’s one thing that few college students had even thought of as a risk, she mentioned.

“A variety of college students actually didn’t even know that they had been eligible to vote,” she mentioned.

Nowell-Shortt’s mother is a everlasting resident of the U.S. however isn’t eligible to vote. So, she needed to make sure that her classmates understood the impression of voting.

Nowell-Shortt plans on filling out her first poll in particular person on Election Day, and can accomplish that together with her older brother, who can be voting in his first election.

“It will improve the political affect of our future to return,” she mentioned. “I feel with the youthful technology having the ability to vote, like myself, we’re positively going to assist make an impression in our future.”

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