Making voter registration a rite of passage

The class bell rings, and high school seniors pour into the lobby of Exeter High School to engage in a rite of passage: Registering to vote.

Election officials from all six towns represented in this district are here to make the process of registering more accessible.

This voter registration event is the culmination of a labor of love and patriotism — of teenagers.

“Voting is such a fundamental civil right, and there should not be a reason you do not exercise it,” said Madi Paige, the Exeter senior who made this happen along with first-year student Amalia Gloss. “It’s super important.” And then Madi registered to vote.
Madi attended a conference hosted by the nonpartisan nonprofit organizations Open Democracy and The Civics Center where she learned how to run a voter-registration event. Madi reached out to local election officials, did all the scheduling and educated her classmates about registering. Amalia learned the ropes and will organize a drive next year.

Events like this one, organized by teens, are happening all over the state, with more than 500 new voters registering during the 2023-24 school year — including 45 in Exeter.

Foundation grants are supporting Open Democracy, The Civics Center and other nonpartisan voter-registration and youth organizing efforts.

Research from The Civics Center has shown that when 18-year-olds in New Hampshire are registered, they vote. But The Civics Center also estimates that just nine percent of eligible 18-year-olds were registered statewide as of December of 2023. (UPDATE, August 23, 2024: Newly released data from The Civics Center shows that an estimated 21.2 percent of New Hampshire 18-year-olds were registered to vote by the end of June, 2024.)

For a generation accustomed to doing everything on their smartphones — from making doctors’ appointments to applying for college to registering for the Selective Service — registering to vote in New Hampshire remains an old-school process. You must figure out where your town or city clerk’s office is and when it is open (and those office hours mostly coincide with school and extra-curricular time). Then you must go, in-person, and fill out forms to register. (New Hampshire is the only New England state without online registration.) School-based drives make the process more accessible.

“It makes it easier if we put it right in front of them,” said Pam Schwotzer, a checklist supervisor from Kensington. “And it reminds them that they are becoming adults — and they are going to have greater responsibilities.”