Jan. 17, 2020 -- Most people grow up thinking they have to wait until they’re 18 to cast their first ballot in an official election. Not so in Ohio, thanks in part to three Heights graduates. In 2016, then high school seniors Emma Schubert, Malik Smith, and Graham Bell were part of a class action lawsuit that resulted in allowing anyone who will turn 18 by the November election to vote in the spring primary.
This impacts hundreds of Heights High seniors and juniors whose 18th birthdays fall before November 3, 2020 (anyone born prior to November 3, 2002). They are all eligible to vote in the March 17 primary that will determine which Democratic candidate will face Donald Trump in the presidential election. Seventeen year-olds are not allowed to vote on ballot issues; only primary candidates.
Heights High is working hard to make sure that all students know this fact and have the opportunity to register before the February 18, 2020 deadline. The League of Women Voters will be in the cafeteria to register student voters during lunch periods on Wednesday, January 15, and Thursday, February 13.
Leslie Wilson, parent of two Heights alumnae and an active member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc, Greater Cleveland Alumnae Chapter, is working with Joy Henderson and Athletic Director Joe D’Amato to offer additional voter registration opportunities at home
Boys Basketball games.
Tables will be set up for both home and away fans at the Friday, January 17, game against Warrensville Heights and again at the Friday, January 31, game against Maple Heights.
Registration is quick and always free. Students, or anyone over 18, need to have either their driver’s license, state ID number, or the last four digits of their social security number to register. The Heights High community encourages all students to exercise their right to vote.
