Guilford County Schools offers optional bussing to the polls for 18-year-old students

Dozens of students filed out of a school bus, and into the Bur-Mil Park early voting site Tuesday morning. 

For 18-year-old students that opted in, Guilford County Schools provided transportation to the polls on Oct. 25. 

Jonathan Permar is the GCS interim senior director for teaching, learning and professional development. He says the district started offering transportation in 2020 upon realizing the barriers students faced to vote.

“If we think about the polling hours, which run from seven to seven, a majority of the day that our 18-year-old students could go and vote, they're spent on a bus, they're spent in school,” Permar said. “And so it was kind of an ‘aha’ moment for us in conversations that school, in and of itself, in a weird way, is an obstacle for our students to get out and vote.”

In addition to time constraints, Permar says not all students have access to a car to get to the polls. They might also have after-school responsibilities that make voting more challenging. Even Election Day tends to fall on a school day. 

But aside from alleviating barriers and increasing access for students to vote, Permar says this program is also just a part of civics education. 

He says schools focus a lot on concrete factual information, like the three branches of government and how a bill becomes a law. While that education is important, he says practical applications that empower students to be engaged are critical too. 

“When we think about how we look at the curriculum, we always want students to take what they learn and apply it in real life,” Permar said. “Well, this is a prime opportunity for our 18-year-old students to take something that we have spent 12 years of their public educational life talking about, and actually doing something with it.”

Eighteen-year-old Tamia Merritt is a senior at Page High School. She took the bus with her classmates Tuesday morning to vote. She voted in the primary election this year the same way, and says she plans to be a lifelong voter. 

“I feel like this is a great opportunity,” Merritt said. “First of all, it's an honor to be able to vote for the people that I believe will do good for our state. Also, I'm just basically happy to be able to speak up for myself.”

After casting her ballot, Merritt waited outside with her classmates who were all wearing “I voted” stickers.

“I want people to know that I voted, and that they can too,” Merritt said.  

Optional transportation for GCS students to vote will continue from Nov. 1-3. 

Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.