The Votes Are In!

Charlotte Catholic’s Government and Politics classes began the countdown to Election Day by taking a field trip to a local early voting precinct. Seniors over the age of 18 had the opportunity to vote early and learn about this process. This sparked excitement among the young voters as they prepared for the upcoming election on November 5th.  

AP Government teacher Mrs. Waldron initially expressed interest in this field trip and contacted the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections to make it possible. Once the idea was finalized, Mrs. Waldron, Mr. Panther, and Mr. Morgan brought their Government and Politics classes together to participate in this important event. 

This trip gave students the opportunity to participate in a guided walkthrough of the voting process. Volunteer poll workers talked to the students about the requirements for being eligible to vote. First-time voters only needed to bring a state-issued ID as a form of identification. The voting precinct also had a bell for first-time voters to ring as a way to celebrate their partaking in the important civic duty.

Mr. Panther stated that the goal of this field trip was to “educate students on the process of voting and to allow those that were old enough an easy way to vote.” He hoped that the field trip sparked excitement among students and helped them learn about the importance of their vote. The students that were not old enough to vote or were not registered in Mecklenburg County were given a walk-through to see the step-by-step procedure for when they go to vote in the future. 

The Catholic Chronicle interviewed a few students that voted on this trip on their first time voting experience.

Some people go into the voting polls only knowing a handful of candidates, but senior Emma Keese researched each candidate extensively. “I spent about an hour or two looking into the priorities of the candidates on both a local and national level,” she said. Similarly, senior Riggs Daniel said how before he voted on state representatives, he “did a pretty substantial amount of research since the state and county specific elections arguably have more of an effect on [his] life.”

Most of the students didn’t know what to expect going into the voting precinct. Senior Isabella Tarantelli mentioned that she was “a little nervous just because [she] knew that what [she] was about to do was a really big deal.” Since she was a first-time voter, Isabella remarked on how “everyone clapped for [her] and it was a really nice experience.” 

This field trip to the early voting precinct gave students an opportunity to learn more about the process of voting and bring excitement to this monumental moment in time.

Seniors Lizzie Harlick (left) and Alivia Noonan (middle) were among CCHS' first-time voters.