Voting is an important civic duty and a constitutional right, but for many seniors who may be coming of age to vote in this midterm election, it can be confusing. How can students register and participate in this coming election?

Social studies teacher Rebecca Bradford is organizing a voter registration drive during lunch. It will be on Oct. 4 in the media center during both lunches.

Students should bring a state ID, namely a driver’s license, if they have it. They should also know their address, ZIP code, place of birth, and desired party affiliation to ensure that registering goes as smoothly as possible.

“You do not need parental permission,” Bradford said. Students who are 16 and older can register on their own; however, it will be announced on the school website so that parents are informed.

“We will have laptops set up with the website [North Carolina State Board of Elections] where you can check to see if you’re already registered,” Bradford said. 

If students want to look up their registration information prior to the drive, they can follow this link, or can manually go to the NCSBE and look for the “Voter Search Tool.” Here, people can look up information on their voter registration status and previous elections in which they voted. 

“Your political party affiliation is none of our concern,” Bradford said. Students are free to choose whichever political party they want or change parties if they have already registered.

Not knowing which party to affiliate with is not an issue either. Students can choose to be unaffiliated. This means they can vote in any one of the party’s primaries if they choose to do so and can always vote for whomever they choose in the general election.

Voting is important, from the average Joe to the highest office. “The right to vote and to have that vote counted is democracy’s threshold liberty.  Without it, nothing is possible, but with it, anything is possible,” said President Biden in his remarks in Jan. 2022.