Seniors were given the opportunity to be student election judges for the upcoming presidential election on November 8.
This year only seniors were given the opportunity to participate, but there were plenty of other qualifications that had to be met other than grade level.
“We only opened it to seniors because we were limited to 30 participants. [Students] had to have a GPA of 3.0 and be willing to commit to such a long day,” said history teacher Erin Wise.
There was a training class held at the school on October 3, that was to help prepare the students for what they would be doing on election day.
“Training took place on a Tuesday morning first through third period,” said senior Amelia Attwood.
The training course taught the students what to do in specific situations, so when they arrived at their assigned area, there would be no surprises.
“They learned how check-in works, what happens when someone shows up without having an idea of where they are supposed to go, how to show voters how to fill out a ballot, how to check them in, how to check them out, and where to send them. They got an overall lesson of how the day would look and what all the different procedures look like,” Wise said.
All of the students have different reasons for wanting to become an election judge.
“I wanted to become an election judge because I wanted to get involved with politics, and this was a good way to ease into the elections,” said senior Jack Miller.
The election leaders were asking for high school students because they need the young people to start getting involved more in politics.
“They need young people to help. They need a lot of helpers. There is going to be a huge turnout, so they need as many volunteers as they can get. Also, students are great because check-in is now computerized, and most of the people that have been helping out are retired and no longer tech savvy,” Wise said.
Other students can get involved without taking the course here at school, but it will take time outside of classes and outside of the school hours.
“[A way students can get involved is] by finding a training course outside of the school and signing up for it then. They may not be accepting any more people, but that’s always a good way to get involved next year if one is interested,” Miller said.