Student voting has been an important part of allowing younger generations to voice their opinions. It is vital in the hopes of building a society that is designed to adhere to the needs of students.

“Considering all of the things happening in society today, my vote is to ensure that the person we are electing wants the best for everyone in the community,” senior Abel Mehari said.

In the state of Virginia, the voting registration deadline was Oct. 12. Members of the community were eager to meet registration deadlines ahead of the Virginia Governor’s election set to take place on Nov. 2.

The candidates running for governor in Virginia include Terry McAuliffe, Glen Yungkin and Princess Blanding.

“I think it is important to stay updated with the candidates and the different policies they plan to implement if they are elected,” senior Adiba Hasnat said. “ Electing the candidate who will make decisions for what is best for us is the reason voting is important.”

The effects of covid on the voting registration process in Virginia were at a minimum.

In general, voter registration has not been impacted significantly by Covid-19 because voter registration can be completed online or via mail.

“The impact we have seen at school is that the organizations that used to come into the schools to support voter registration drives are not able to do so and we have had to move those opportunities online,” social studies teacher Meg Anderson said.

Online voter registrations were a convenient turn-around from in-person registration for students.

“After turning 18 this past summer, I was eager to finally be able to vote,” senior Michael Bekele said. “Thankfully voting registrations were more accessible to the public since they were online, having the ability to vote is important, especially with everything going on in society today.”