Politics & Government

Ward Melville HS Concludes Voter Registration Week

Social studies teachers helped seniors get registered to vote.

Meet Three Village's newest responsible citizens: 312 students – all members of Ward Melville High School's class of 2013 – registered to vote during the high school's second annual "Voter Registration Week," which concluded March 22. The number of new voters represents a little under half of the senior class.

"We thought that was very successful," said Tracy Beauchamp, chairperson of the high school social studies department. "These students are really on their way to becoming adults – full members of society."

Each day, announcements were made offering different facts pertaining to young voters to get them excited about registering to vote.

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For instance: Did you know that the U.S. government lowered the minimum voting age to 18 in 1971? Did you know that in 1992 when the MTV and VH1 television networks organized their first "Rock the Vote" campaign, it resulted in 350,000 new voter registrations?

Well, now you do, and so does the Ward Melville senior class.

Find out what's happening in Three Villagewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Students were encouraged by their social studies teachers, many of whom dedicated classroom time to discussing voting rights.

"Other than getting their driver's license, this is one of the first milestones they have," Beauchamp said. "It means a lot to us in the social studies department that we can help them."


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