Eva Spangler, Reporter
@espanglercourant
On October 9, at the annual American Music Awards held in Los Angeles, California, Taylor Swift accepted an award for Artist of the Year. After receiving her award, she made a remark about the importance of voting and that it is the people’s role to vote. The New Canaan High School community didn’t wait for Swift to say something and held a voter registration booth in the cafeteria and library during lunch on September 24. The LiveGirl Club teamed up with the League of Women Voters to try to get more students’ voices out there.
Anna Meli, a senior at New Canaan High School and Co-President of the LiveGirl Club, spoke about the impact the club is trying to have on the community. “We’re really working to empower girls in this community, specifically at NCHS, and we want to show girls that they can have confidence and they should love themselves and not really depend on what other people think of them,” said Anna.
Meli then went into why she believes voting is an important contribution to the community. “Every vote counts and every vote matters. Do the work to make sure that our nation is as reflective of you as possible,” she said.
AP Government and Politics teacher, Michael Joshi, shared his opinion on voting, “Voting is one of the most important privileges we have as citizens and so it’s your chance to let the government know whether you agree with what they’re doing or you disagree and to make your voice more heard,” he said.
Mr. Joshi also shared information on voting that occurs across the country. “The latest report is said to have had 800,000 people registered to vote which is the most ever for national voter registration day,” Joshi said. “The biggest thing is that it’s just the best way to get your voice heard so if you don’t like what the government’s doing then you vote the way you want them to act”.
Civics teacher, Kristine Goldhawk, agreed with Mr. Joshi’s opinion on the importance of registering to vote. “I truly believe that the only way that a democracy is going to flourish and not devolve into tyranny is to have an educated and active of citizenry and that requires people to actually know what’s go ing on and vote. So I want to make sure people actually know what’s going on and vote,” she said.
Ms. Goldhawk is also President of the League of Women Voters in Stamford. “The role of League of Women voters, since its inception, has been to register people to vote, to educate them upon the issues and the candidates, and in doing that, remaining completely non partisan,” she said.
NCHS Senior, Nate Sibbett, was one of the many students who registered to vote on September 24. “Obviously it’s really important for students to voice their opinions in 2018 because it’s such a critical time in our nation right now. It’s my duty as an United States citizen”, said Nate.
Anna was happy with the results of NCHS Voter Registration Day. “It was kinda amazing to me because you know how high schoolers are, they want to take every second of that two minute free time they get,” she said. “We had at least 100 kids come up and register if not for this year than for next year and it was pretty amazing to see.”
