ENGLEWOOD — A nonpartisan group made up of Englewood residents and organizations are targeting Englewood high schools in hopes of registering 1,200 students for the upcoming elections.
The state elections are Nov. 4, while the city elections are Feb. 24 and April 7.
On Tuesday, Englewood Votes! registered 42 students, including 30 at Excel Academy of Englewood and 12 at Paul Robeson High School. Before its fall voter registration drive ends next week, the group will visit Robert Lindblom Math & Science Academy, John Hope College Prep, Team Englewood Academy, Johnson College Prep and Simeon Career Academy High School in West Chatham.
Sierra Alexander, an 18-year-old senior at Excel Academy of Englewood, said she is excited about voting for the first time and said jobs and crime are her two biggest concerns.
"Now I get a say in policies that affect me. My vote will help decide the next governor of Illinois," said the Englewood resident.
Rosalind Moore, director of programming for the nonprofit Teamwork Englewood, is a volunteer for Englewood Votes! She said every high school will be given an information handout to share with students about elections and the voting process.
"It is a shame that so many of our students are clueless about the election and have little interest in it," Moore said. "We have got to change students' perception that their vote does not count."
Some students interviewed Tuesday were unsure who was running for governor, for example.
Moore explained to students why the government once prohibited blacks from voting.
"By keeping you from voting it gives the government control over you and it gives them power over you," Moore said. "Your ancestors died so you could vote, so when you do not exercise your right to vote you are disrespecting their sacrifices."
Other organizations working with Englewood Votes! are the Resident Association of Greater Englewood, Imagine Englewood If, Voices of Englewood, and Growing Home. Chicago Public Schools is also collaborating with the group, said Brenda Bell, a community facilitator for the school district's family and community engagement department.
"Registering students to vote is a citywide effort on the part of CPS. We want every student of age to register to vote," Bell said.
To be eligible to register, a student must be 18 years old before the election. The group is also signing up 17-year-olds whose birthdays are before the elections. The next voter registration drive will take place in January followed by another in March, Moore said.
Diamond Johnson, a 17-year-old senior at Excel Academy of Englewood, will turn 18 years old on Nov. 22 and said she will vote in the February 2015 city elections when voters will decide their alderman and the next mayor.
"Whoever I vote for has to be someone down for education because after I graduate I plan to study business in college and then become an entrepreneur," Johnson said. "But if the wrong people get elected it could be hard for me to go to college because financial aid might get cut."
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
