Cavs Lead March to Polls

"High School Students Push Voting"
By Ray Gronberg
Reprinted from the Durham Herald-Sun
Apr 27, 2008

DURHAM -- Students from Durham Academy and other area high schools staged a vote-early march Saturday to encourage fellow teens to cast ballots in May's primary and November's general election if they're eligible.

High-schoolers can vote this year if they're due to turn 18 before Nov. 4.

The high-profile Democratic Party primary contest between presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has clearly heightened interest in this year's elections.

It appeared that all the teens who participated in Saturday's march from Northern High School to an early-voting site at a nearby county library were Obama supporters.

"You take the students at Durham Academy, and there are Clinton supporters, Obama supporters and [presumptive Republican nominee John] McCain supporters," said Eric Teagarden, a Durham Academy English and ethics teacher. "But all across the country, Obama seems to have engaged the youth in a special way."

Teagarden stressed that despite the obvious preference of Saturday's marchers, the urging for students to vote this year is nonpartisan. He said this year's race has created "a teachable moment" that will promote civic responsibility for years to come.

At Durham Academy, all or nearly all of the students who will be eligible to vote this year have registered to vote, thanks in part to a registration drive at the school, Teagarden said.

Students who participated in Saturday's march started the morning outside Northern by standing at the side of Roxboro Road with placards encouraging early voting and support for Obama.

A couple of the placards urged passing motorists to honk their horns if they favored Obama. A good number did so.

But several motorists signaled that they likely have another preference.

"She shook her head at us," one student observed as a car passed.

"She's for Mike Gravel," one of his compatriots quipped, referring to the former U.S. senator from Alaska who ran for the Democratic nomination against Obama and Clinton this spring. He attracted little support and is now running as a Libertarian.

The event attracted a number of candidates for local office who were eager to pick up extra votes. County Commissioner candidates Josh Parker and Ellen Reckhow, district attorney candidate Tracey Cline and school board candidate Nancy Cox all stopped by at Northern before the students marched to the library.

Reckhow, an incumbent, put in the most effort, marching with the students and talking one-on-one with several of them. She explained to them what county government does, noting that among other things it helps fund schools and libraries.

Cox also marched with the students. Cline stopped by briefly but after a bit headed down the road to the early-voting site at the library.

Parker left before the march began, stopping just long enough on the way to a couple of other get-out-the-vote events to hand out campaign stickers.

He said a recent registration drive at Jordan High School similar to the one at Durham Academy registered 85 students in one day.

Given that most young voters registering this year are likely focused on the presidential race, local candidates have to find a way to get them interested in the other races on the ballot, Parker said.

Three other county commissioner candidates, Fred Foster, Becky Heron and Victoria Peterson, also got in a little campaigning after the march began.

Heron was waiting on the students' march route along Milton Road and handed out leaflets as they passed. Foster and Peterson were campaigning outside the library, as was district attorney candidate Keith Bishop.