Senior Voters

Registering the Class of '80

About half the 500 seniors graduating from Detroit's Cooley High last spring walked out of the ceremony clutching something besides their sheepskins--voter registration cards. That experience proved to be a dry run for a bill signed into law this month by Michigan Governor William G. Milliken to encourage a good portion of next year's 133,000 Michigan high school graduates to vote in the 1980 presidential election. The new law provides that high school principals or their deputies can issue registration cards on the spot and act as registrars to certify that a student meets the state's minimum voter eligibility requirements. (In order to vote, students must be 18, U.S. citizens and residents of the state for 30 days.)

The Michigan bill, similar to a Georgia law signed by Governor Jimmy Carter in 1971, was strongly supported by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "We have to make it as easy as possible for these kids to register," says Joseph Madison, director of the N.A.A.C.P.'s voter program. The percentage of voter turnout in the U.S., especially among the young, is steadily declining. Madison points out that of the 3.4 million blacks age 18 to 24 in 1976, 38% registered and only 26% voted. Of the 23 million whites in that age group, 53% registered and 45% voted. Legislation to enroll all teen-age voters is under consideration in 20 states.

Educators see the registration drive in a broader context, linking it to the traditional civics and government courses required in the schools. Detroit Superintendent of Schools Arthur Jefferson plans to invite elected officials and local experts on housing and energy to talk to students. "I want to give the kids substantive information prior to the 1980 election," he says. "I want to sensitize them to the political process and the issues so they will be so hyped up they will want to vote."

Compliance with the Michigan law is not compulsory, nor did the state legislature authorize any funds for the registration drive, so it is up to the schools to follow through. The voluntary Georgia program has not been particularly successful. Many high school principals, black and white, simply ignored it. Local branches of the Michigan N.A.A.C.P. plan to call on school superintendents to get them moving, and Jefferson will meet with Detroit high school principals to urge each of them to deputize a registrar to keep track of the students as they reach voting age. Madison envisions a voter registration rock concert held in Motown. Admission: one voter registration card.

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