High School Students Use Day Off To Volunteer

While some teenagers probably chose to sleep in on Tuesday when Montgomery County Public Schools closed for the election, a few civic-minded students took advantage of the day off to volunteer.

Although most are not old enough to vote themselves, a program at the Montgomery County Board of Elections allowed students to see the election process up close.

The Future Voters of America Initiative brings middle school and high school aged students into precincts to assist voters on Election Day. 

Anna Mariani, a high school junior, has been volunteering with the program since seventh grade.   This year she helped with registration at the Jones Lane Elementary polling station.

"My friend's mom saw an ad for it, so I went along with them," said Mariani. "But I kept doing it because I really liked it."

During the primary election, high school volunteers helped direct voters in and out of the voting room at each precinct. 

Catherine Wang, a senior at Thomas Wootton High School, said this was her second year volunteering.

"I just wanted to see how it works," Wang said.  This year Wang helped to direct voters at the Dufief Elementary School polling station.

But precinct volunteers were not the only high school students giving their time on Tuesday.  Several teens could also be seen wearing campaign shirts and handing out candidate materials outside the polls.

Madeleine Morrison, an adult volunteer for the Saqib Ali campaign, said she was impressed to see so many young people interested in the election.

"It does my heart good to see so many youth involved volunteering for a state delegate," said Morrison, who at 80 was one of the older volunteers on a election day.

The volunteering also came with an added bonus for students: school credit. Students at Montgomery County Public Schools are required to complete a total of 75 service-learning hours from grade 6 to 12 in order to graduate.  Volunteering on election day can count toward those required hours.

Some students also took advantage of the crowds on Tuesday to raise money for school events.  The Quince Orchard High School Literary magazine held a bake sale at the Quince Orchard High School  polling station and asked voters for donations.

David Nebb, a trumpet player at Thomas Wootton High School, sat outside Travilah Elementary School on Tuesday selling coupon books to raise money for his school music program. 

"We really need the money to buy new instruments," said Nebb.

But with some of the lowest voter turnout on record, the crowds might not have brought in the kind of traffic these fundraisers expected.

Only 18 percent of eligible voters in Montgomery County cast a ballot on Tuesday. That was the lowest voter turnout in the state of Maryland.

Nebb said he would probably go door-to-door after the polls closed to reach his neighbors who did not visit the voting precinct.