WV Secretary of State Kris Warner is proud to announce that Tygarts Valley High School located in Randolph County has earned the prestigious Jennings Randolph Award for civic engagement.
The Jennings Randolph Award is given to a West Virginia high school that hosts a student-led voter registration drive that registers at least 85% of the seniors who are eligible to vote.
Tygarts Valley High School registered 100% of their eligible seniors to vote. WVSOS Chief Deputy Secretary of State Deak Kersey visited Tygarts Valley High School last week to present the Jennings Randolph Award to TVHS Principal Steve Wamsley and social studies teacher Michelle Depp who assisted the students with the voter registration drive at the school.
“I want to congratulate Tygarts Valley High School on earning this significant recognition,” said Secretary of State Kris Warner. “Registering to vote changes the status of an individual from being a resident of West Virginia to being a citizen of West Virginia. The graduates of Tygarts Valley High School understand how important it is to be registered to vote.”
Initiated by the WV Secretary of State’s Office in 1994, the Jennings Randolph Award for Civic Engagement commemorates West Virginia’s late U.S. Senator Jennings Randolph’s legacy as the “Father of the 26th Amendment.”
One of the defining moments in voting rights history in America, the 26th Amendment was passed in 1971. The Amendment lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, an effort Senator Randolph had first championed 29 years earlier in the U.S. House of Representatives.
