Madison West High School hosts voter registration day for eligible students

MADISON, Wis.- The Madison West Civics Club and the League of Women Voters volunteered to spend the afternoon providing resources for students to register to vote in the upcoming Presidential Election.

“The point is to have young people helping other young people," said student club member, Fiona Rataj.

What makes this different from regular registration sites is they are bringing the resources directly to people who need them.

“It can sometimes be a little intimidating, especially for new voters to go up to a table of people they have no idea who they are, and talk about what they're supposed to do,” said Rataj.

The League of Women Voters and civics club are volunteers in this process. However, voter registration in high schools didn't always require voluntary help.

“We're trying to restore what was previously in statute, where this was allowed where somebody was able to go to high schools and educate students on being able to register to vote,” said District 79 Representative, Alex Joers.

Rep. Joers is working on a bill to bring back legislation that was eliminated over a decade ago. High schools used to be mandatory registration sites in Wisconsin until it was repealed by legislature in 2011.

“I think that bill gives just the next step of actually somebody that is able to walk high schoolers through the process of getting registered and get that essential documentation to the clerks to be able to get that person registered,” said Rep. Joers.

The bill would allocate a special school registration deputy that can accept registration forms from students and staff any day classes are in session. This bill won't be passed any earlier than next year, so for now, volunteers have to take registration into their own hands.

“I think that the other side is like, the education behind it, and making sure that not only are students and young people registering to vote, but also being educated about what their vote means,” said Rataj.

Because of the age limit, the civics club registered four more new voters. It says that every vote counts.

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