Note: This story was updated March 5 to add a high school missing from the award list.
As voters head to the polls for this year's primary election, many high school students will be voting for the first time in a presidential election.
To encourage students to be registered to vote by the time they are 18 years old, Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett launched a voter registration program a couple of years ago to honor state high schools that meet student voter registration thresholds, named after renowned Tennessee suffragist Anne Dallas Dudley. Tennessee law allows students who will be 18 or older on or before the next election to register to vote.
High schools across the state that have 100% of eligible students registered earn the Anne Dallas Dudley Gold Level Award. Last week, Hargett presented the gold honor to four area schools — Chattanooga School for Liberal Arts, Sale Creek High School, Chattanooga School for Arts and Sciences, and Lookout Valley Middle High School.
At the liberal arts school, Summer Hayes served as a student ambassador and led the effort to register students.
"I think everyone is pretty eager," she said. "It's a new step in our lives."
(READ MORE: Chattanooga Times Free Press 2024 Voter Guide)
Hargett urged the newly registered voters to make sure they go to the polls and exercise their right to vote.
"We hope that you will not only go out and vote yourself, but that you will encourage others to make their voice heard by exercising your right to vote," Hargett told students Friday. "Your vote is just as important and counts as much as anybody's vote. Our state and our nation are stronger when every eligible Tennessean is registered to vote and casts a ballot on Election Day."
Voters must already be registered to cast ballots in Tuesday's election, when polls will be open in Hamilton County from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
You can still register for the Aug. 1 and Nov. 5 general elections up until 30 days beforehand, Hargett said.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6340.