While too many adults take voting for granted, Montclair High School seniors can’t wait to cast their first-ever votes in a presidential election.
Nearly 300 seniors filled the school’s auditorium last week to hear Mayor Jerry Fried, Councilwoman-at-Large Kathryn Weller and Municipal Clerk Linda Wanat speak about the importance of voting and outline the procedures the teens will need to follow to become registered voters.
I’m here to encourage everyone who is 18 to register if they haven’t registered already," Fried said.
"One of the things I found inspiring was that there are clumps of neighbors and neighborhoods where everybody votes," Fried told the students, recounting his experiences from his recent mayoral election campaign.
"And those are best neighborhoods," Fried said. "They are the best neighborhoods because those are the neighborhoods where people talk to each other, they talk about issues, they encourage each other. Those are the neighborhoods where people are really involved."
Municipal officials are concerned by a chronically low turnout of voters in recent elections. Less than 29 percent of registered voters cast ballots in this year’s municipal elections, down from 30 percent in 2004.
The June primary this year drew only 16 per cent of registered voters.
"We hope we can get you involved in a drive between now and Nov. 4th to get out the vote and make Montclair a stronger town," Fried said. "I know how important and how influential each one of you are."
Weller, an MHS graduate, told the students: "We’re looking for people who can give five hours to go door to door and ring doorbells in their neighborhood and remind people to vote."
"It [voting] is really an awesome power we have here that other people around the world don’t have," Weller said.
Officials hope they can reverse the trend in low voter turnout and encourage wider voter participation if they can tap into the energy of Montclair’s young adults. Fried and Weller found the assembled teens in MHS a very receptive audience when they explained why it is so important for every citizen in a democracy to exercise his or her vote.
Many of the students rushed to the elected officials after they spoke to sign up as volunteers in the local get-out-the-vote campaign.
"We won’t be old enough this time, but we want to be ready when we do turn 18," said Sally Goodman, one of many MHS 17 year-old teens who will miss the upcoming presidential election because they won’t reach their 18th birthday in time.
"We may not be old enough to vote, but we’d like to be involved, said Gia Benno, who was among the dozens of MHS students who picked up voter registration information and signed up to volunteer as poll workers.
"It very exciting" said Emilio Autin-Hefner said. "We’d like to volunteer if we can."
Wanat told the 16- and 17-year-olds that they can participate by working at the polls on Election Day. She said a stint as a poll worker would provide the students with a "wonderful experience" and a unique "up close and personal view" of how the nation’s democratic process works.
As the MHS students intently listened, Wanat went over the registration details.
To vote in Montclair in the upcoming presidential elections, the students learned that they must be at least 18 years old, be a United States citizen, and reside in Essex County for at least 30 days before the election.
First-time voters will need to complete a voter registration form and must provide a valid form of identification. The identification could be their New Jersey driver’s license number, the last four digits of their Social Security number or a copy of a current and valid photo identification card.
Voter registration forms are available in the Montclair Municipal Clerk’s Office, 205 Claremont Ave., and in the Montclair Public Library’s two branches, on South Fullerton Avenue and Bellevue Avenue.
The forms are also available in a number of other government offices, including at the offices of the Essex County Board of Elections, the Essex County Commissioner of Registration, the state Division of Worker’s Compensation, the state Division of Employment Services, the state Division of Unemployment and Temporary Disabhility Insurance and the state Division of Taxation.
For more information, call the Montclair Municipal Clerk’s Office, 973-509-4900. Citizens can also call the Essex County Superintendent of Elections Office, 973-509-5061, or visit www.njelections.org.
