Before piling into the cafeteria to grab some lunch and chat with friends, numerous Haverhill High School seniors stopped to register for their civic duty — voting for the next president of the United States.
By the end of the special voter-registration sessions, 128 students had registered to vote, making the efforts of the high school's Excel Club a huge success.
"I think the whole club is happy with the outcome. We think it's great that we are getting so involved in the whole process," said Liz Henderson, club president.
The club arranged for members of the city's Board of Registrars to come to the high school so eligible seniors could register to vote during their lunch periods on May 7 and 8. It proved to be a simple, one-stop process. Students spent about three minutes of their free time to register for what is going to be a historic presidential election.
"Registering here is a lot easier because we don't need to put in the extra effort to get down to City Hall. I know I wouldn't have had time to register if it hadn't been here," said Sam Weiner, treasurer of the Excel Club.
Many students agree.
"This makes it so much easier. I probably wouldn't have registered if it wasn't here," said senior Tom Fallon.
"Doing it like this makes more people want to register. I'm not sure when I would have had the time," said Jillian Ranzo.
"I wouldn't have registered if they hadn't done it at the school. I mean, it's right here. It's so easy," said Ashley Cordero, the 100th student to register.
Holding the registrations at the high school gave students unsure about the process an opportunity to have their questions answered, with help available to fill out the form.
"Registering here makes people want to do it because it's easier and they don't have to figure out how to do it themselves," said Colleen Maroney.
"I'm 18 now so I wanted to register. It makes it so much easier being able to do it here. I wouldn't have known what to do if I had to go to City Hall to register," said Cole Brown.
Registrars were pleased with the number of students who registered.
"We do have some students that come in to City Hall to register but not this many in such a short amount of time. It really helps doing it this way. Students are registered almost immediately. If we had just handed out mail-in forms, students may have forgotten. This is great," said Mike LaBonte, chairman of the Board of Registrars.
"A lot of credit goes to the Excel Club. They brought us (registrars) here and brought out a lot of students," said Registrar Robert DesMarais.
City clerk and registrar Margaret "Peg" Toomey, who said the registration sessions were held at the high school to make it more convenient for students who wished to register, added that she was very pleased with the outcome.
Registrar Katie Amari was on hand the first day.
Henderson said the Excel Club has plans to invite the registrars back for another session in September.
"We have a lot of juniors who want to register to vote who weren't old enough to register for the primary but will be old enough to vote in the presidential election. We want to make sure they have their chance, too," Henderson said.
Toomey said the board has offered to return in the fall.
For more information about voting or voter registration, call the Haverhill City Clerk's Office at 978-374-2312. For more information about Haverhill High School's Excel Club, contact Linda Crapsey at the high school at 978-374-5700.
