Research shows that if kids start voting when they’re 18, they are more likely to be lifelong voters.
That’s why the League of Women Voters of Greater Omaha is working hard before the elections this year to get every high school student who is eligible, registered to vote.
Carolyn Thiele, Chair for the Get out the Vote Committee for the League of Women voters, says they are reaching out to high school students who are already or will be 18 by November.
Thiele says the league has contacted government teachers and is providing in-class instruction on the basics of voting.
"What we are finding as we are talking to kids in the classroom, is I think the reason a lot of the younger people aren’t voting is it’s a new thing to them and they really don’t know a lot of the logistics and they feel like if they don’t everything about every candidate that they probably shouldn’t vote.”
But Thiele says she and her fellow league members are trying to dispel some of those myths and let students know they don’t have to vote for every office that’s on a ballot.
She says they walk the students through the voting process and let them know they can participate at whatever level they want.
The League of Women Voters of Greater Omaha will be doing one or two registration drives every week at Omaha Public Schools before April 22nd, which is the deadline for primary election registration.