JACKSON, Miss.—Kids from all over the state were recognized Friday for their doing their part in the “Promote the Vote” program sponsored by the Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann’s office.
“Promote the Vote is an integral component of our voter education initiatives,” said Hosemann. “If you start voting and aren’t scared of voting, you’ll continue to vote for the rest of your life.”
The program is designed at teaching democracy fundamentals to grade school students and to encourage civic responsibility and has been in place since 1996.
The award recipients Friday were broken in to three categories during the event: Art, Essay, and Political Cartoon.
“If you look at the voting demographics you’ll see a very low percentage of young people vote,” said Hosemann.
According to a press release from the Secretary of State’s office last year more than 540 schools and 210,000 students took part in the program statewide.
“Usually 40 or 50% of the people vote for Governor or statewide offices and we really need to bolster that,” he said. “For the President we see a turn out over 65%.”
More than 200 student entries were received in the 2012 Promote the Vote contests with a couple of dozen getting awards.
E-Mail
Print
