District 211 teachers help eligible students register to vote

Sept. 23-27, has been designated as High School Voter Registration Week. This is a nonpartisan drive to encourage and aid eligible high school students in registering to vote in upcoming local and national elections.

Across Township High School District 211, teachers and organizations, such as the League of Women Voters, have worked to ensure students are familiar with voting procedures and are registered.

During the district's open house, representatives from the League of Women Voters were on hand at many of the schools helping those in attendance register. Over the course of the school year, teachers will be working with students to increase their understanding of the importance of voting while getting them registered.

At Palatine High School, social studies teachers will incorporate registration with discussion of macroeconomics. During class, students are provided with the link to register and teachers aid the students with questions that arise during the registration process.

At William Fremd High School, students were in the halls outside of the school's cafeteria during lunch Sept. 24. The students had iPads loaded with the Illinois Voter Registration website in an effort to aid eligible students to register for upcoming elections.

Similar to other schools, James B. Conant High School has chosen to incorporate voter registration into senior level economics and political science classes. When the subject matter of the class reaches discussion of the Constitution and election process, teachers will take time to walk students through the online voter registration process.

Schaumburg Social Studies teachers will follow their regular plan of having voter registration stations set up outside the social studies office at two separate times, with one registration drive in October and the second in February, 2020. At that time, they will have registrars present to assist seniors with registering to vote.

At Hoffman Estates High School, registrars from the Cook County Clerk's office will be at the school in February 2020 to assist with voter registration just prior to the primary elections. In non-election years, graduating seniors are aided with registering to vote as part of processing out of the school prior to graduation.

Currently, voter registration for Illinois residents is available at https://ova.elections.il.gov.