Not Old Enough To Vote, Student Participates in Political Process as Poll Worker

Editor’s note: the following article was submitted by Sequoyah High School student Sarah Thompson

When walking into a local polling place to vote on Election Day, something that most voters do not expect to see is a high school student.

It is rare that a high school student turns 18 in time for the November election of their senior year. If by chance that does occur, it is still unlikely for this age group to take the time to register to vote, let alone drive to their assigned polling places on “the second Tuesday following the first Monday of November.” However, this election year, some voters in the Canton and Woodstock area will encounter a few students from this exact age group.

Sequoyah High School senior Langston Leake is one of these few high school students at the polls this year, but he won’t be there to cast his own ballot. Instead, he will be volunteering as a poll worker, which he chose to do as his senior project in order to discover more about the election process.

“Every year, there are a lot of students who work in the polls to get paid,“ said Langston. “I realized I could expand on this and use it for my senior project.”

Why would a high school student be interested in volunteering as a poll worker? According to Langston, he has always been interested in what the election process is like. He won’t turn 18 in time to vote for this November election, but 17 is the age requirement for a poll worker.

“Since I can’t vote yet, I decided on the next best thing — seeing how it works,” he said.

Langston’s reasoning behind his senior project is not only curiosity about what voting consists of. He also feels very passionately about the growing apathy of young voters in this county.

“I am concerned about how we have a lack of interest in politics,“ he added. “The second we stop caring about politics is the second we doom ourselves to a government that does not have our bests interests in mind.”

Langston also talked about how we as Americans should take advantage of the right to choose our own representatives.

“Many other people in foreign countries do not have the chance to vote,“ Langston added. “If you have the privilege to vote, you should use that opportunity.”

On Nov. 4, 2014, you can find Langston working at the Neese Precinct, located at First Baptist Church of Woodstock. There will be a few other high school students working at local polling places, but unlike those students, Langston won’t personally receive any money for his work.

Instead, he will be doing it to learn more about the political process and encourage voting and political awareness in his classmates and other newly eligible voters in the area.

(Photo credit: Shutterstock)