MORGANTOWN — Reagan Sharp isn’t running for office, but she still wants your vote.
That is, the Trinity Christian School senior wants to make sure you are registered to vote, so you can cast your ballot come election time.
And, she was recently recognized by West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner for that effort.
Warner named Sharp an “Honorary Secretary of State” for her work in getting out the vote among eligible high school seniors aged 17 and 18.
The student helped convince 34 of her classmates to register.
Those honorary designees are the ones working for Warner’s voter initiative, which began two years ago.
Since then, more than 109,163 West Virginians have registered in a drive that garnered national renown — and more than 30,000 of the signees were high-schoolers.
Warner is a retired military officer and former Morgantown businessman who most recently worked for the U.S. State Department.
He monitored elections across the world in that role, jetting to Afghanistan, Bosnia, Ukraine and other trouble spots where fraud at the ballot box is commonplace.
“Student leaders like Reagan understand how important it is to vote,” Warner said of the student, who was just one of 25 high-schoolers from across the state to earn recognition from his office.
A voter registration card can change the whole socio-economic landscape, the secretary said.
“If we encourage young people to participate in their local and state government,” he said, “they may be more likely to stay here in West Virginia.”
An honorary election official agrees.
Especially in the Mountain State, she said, where older voters always outnumber the younger ones at the polling station.
“It is increasingly important to make these young people aware of the voting process,” she said.
Sharp paused for a beat, like a politician on the stump.
“As well as informing them of the critical issues of the day,” she said.
