Election board goes mobile to get teens voting
In 2011, an 18-year-old Indian Lake High School graduate was just 27 votes shy of being elected to the district’s school board.
Meanwhile 44 of the district’s 56 registered 18-year-old voters did not turn out to vote, Logan County Election Board Co-director Adam Brannon told 130 Benjamin Logan High School seniors and 26 advanced placement juniors on Wednesday afternoon.
“He could have been sitting on the school board if his fellow 18-year-olds had come out to vote,” Mr. Brannon said. “In my opinion, there is no reason each one of you shouldn’t be able to come out and vote.”
The 2011 school board race was just one of about a dozen examples of how teenage voters could sway local politics, the election board representative said in a presentation he has been delivering at school districts throughout Logan County as he encourages 18-year-old students to register to vote.
“This is the first year we’ve done this, but we’ve had a good response so far,” Mr. Brannon said after the Ben Logan event, which was the third of five planned. He had already visited Riverside and West Liberty-Salem and was scheduled to be at Indian Lake this morning and Bellefontaine next Wednesday.
Logan County Election Board Co-director Adam Brannon shows a breakdown of local voters by age to Benjamin Logan High School seniors and some juniors Wednesday afternoon. He is traveling to five Logan County school districts to encourage teen voting and get 18- year-old students registered to vote prior to the March 15 primary. HOME PAGE SLIDE SHOW PHOTO: Benjamin Logan High School seniors Darrian Bricker, left, and Joseph Charbel were among dozens of 18-year-old students to fill out voter registration forms when Logan County Election Board Co-director Adam Brannon spoke to seniors and some juniors on Wednesday afternoon. (EXAMINER PHOTOS | REUBEN MEES) |
He cited examples from local races in each district, such as the 2013 Jefferson Township race that saw a trustee elected by just three votes while only one of nine registered teens voted, and discussed his own story from the 2007 election that saw him elected the youngest mayor of Bellefontaine by just 15 votes.
“You guys in your age group can make a drastic difference in what happens in your local elections,” Mr. Brannon said. “I keep having these examples up of what could have happened to show you what it means if you vote.”
Teens — like their adult voting counterparts — tend to turn out heavier in presidential election years with 67 percent of Logan County’s registered teens voting in 2012 compared to 70 percent of all registered voters who turned out to vote, he said.
Seniors Darrian Bricker and Joseph Charbel, who filled out voter registration forms, said they see voting as a responsibility and they are intrigued by the national races that have shaped up for the presidency this year.
“I’m involved with a lot of things, so I just see voting as something I have to do,” Ms. Bricker said. “But this year will be a good first time to vote. With all the candidates running, I’m so torn how I’ll vote. I think it will be a close one.
“I do think it’s good they came out here today,” she added. “It just makes things go a little more smoothly if we can fill them out right here and turn them in.”
The day was also an opportunity to recruit potential pollworkers and discuss absentee voting.
Last year, two Ben Logan students — Spencer Bycynski and Lily LeVan — volunteered to work polls.
Mr. Bycynski said spending election day at the West Mansfield polling place was a learning experience as well as a paid day off school.
“I really enjoyed it,” he said. “I took AP government and I wanted to get involved. I did get a day off school, but it was neat to see how people interacted with the government and how the government interacts with people.”
He said he won’t be able to work the polls during the March 15 primary because he plays on the school baseball team in the spring.
Pollworker positions are open to anyone age 18 and over and more information is available by contacting the Logan County Board of Elections, 225 S. Main St.; phone: (937) 599-7255; or online: electionsonthe.net/oh/logan
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