Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz visited Greene County High School Oct. 30 with his ROCK Iowa program. He spoke with seniors taking the required government class, encouraging them to vote in the Nov. 4 election and beyond.
According to Schultz, only 60 percent of millennials (the generation born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s) are registered to vote. He also told the students more people in the US use Facebook than vote.
He distributed voter registration forms and talked about SmartPhone apps that make registering to vote and finding polling places easy. His overriding message to the students: “Vote!” “If you sit on the sidelines, others will make government work for them instead of for you,” he said.
Schultz invited the seniors to name issues they think are important. Issues named were disability rights, education, the War on Terror, minimum wage, gay marriage, abortion, bullying and equal pay. They added taxes, immigration and gun control after some prompting from Schultz.
He was invited to Greene County by government teacher Crystal Heard.
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Rock Iowa is a partnership between the Iowa Secretary of State’s office and the nationally recognized Rock the Vote program. It’s an interactive educational opportunity for high school seniors to learn about Iowa’s voting process. The goal is to educate the students about Iowa’s election process and the importance of voting and exercising that right.
