Students at Joel Barlow High School got the opportunity to do more than study voting and the election process. On Wednesday, April 25, they also got the opportunity to register to vote.
The Redding League of Women Voters, joined by the registrars of voters from Redding and Easton, set up two tables in the cafeteria at lunchtime festooned with red, white and blue balloons, American flags and large signs reading, “Register to Vote.”
Several times each year, registrars from Easton and Redding visit the school to offer students who will be 18 by Election Day in November the opportunity to register to vote on the spot.
By the end of the second lunch shift, 41 students had been successfully registered as voters in their respective towns of Easton and Redding. “One of the league’s main goals is to encourage people to register. We were certainly successful in fulfilling that goal today,” said league member Phyllis Rhodes.
Registrars David Smith from Easton and Joanne Perlman from Redding participated in the event, along with Redding Deputy Registrar Laura Hoenig.
Mary Ann Carman, Emily d’Aulaire, Janice Meehan, Jean Taylor, and Jean Whitham represented the Redding League of Women Voters.