Citizens around the country went to cast their vote by Nov. 6 to decide who would lead the country. Among these citizens were first time voters, eighteen-year-old seniors in high school.

Among the new voters were seniors Devon Sears, Whitney Meyer and Bailey Gartrell.

Sears said the experience gave him a since of pride and he jokingly said he now has a right to complain because he has voiced his choice.

“I feel patriotic,” Sears said. “Just having a say so in who leads our country gave me a since of pride.”

Sears registered to vote just before his birthday and the deadline at the revenue office when he went to renew his license, but Meyer said she made sure to register well before the October deadline.

“My dad researched it and made sure I registered several months in advance,” Meyer said. “I was going to vote.”

Meyer also said she felt pride in voting.

“I felt empowered because I was getting to vote for the leader of our country,” Meyer said. “I also heard my vote counts for four people, because of those who don’t vote.”

Gartrell said she and her sister went to the revenue office to register and it was simple.

“I just registered to vote,” Gartrell said, “I went to vote right before the poll closed around 7 p. m. and it was laid back and only took five minutes.

For Sears, Meyer and Gartrell, registration was simple and going to vote went smoothly, but for many high school seniors, this was not true.

Senior Karissa Howard was one of many students who registered at school, yet was unable to vote.

“I registered in the cafeteria, but when I didn’t get my voter’s card in the mail, I went to the county clerk’s office to check,” Howard said, “and the woman told me my form hadn’t been turned in and that several students had the same problem.”

Senior Meredith Herring said she had a similar experience when she went to go vote.

“I registered through the school, and when I went to vote and I gave them my drivers license, they said they couldn’t find me in the system,” Herring said.

Both Howard and Herring said they were angry and disappointed after looking forward to voting for the first time.

“I was really mad,” Howard said. “I had been so glad my birthday lined up so that I vote and when I found out I couldn’t [vote], I was actually devastated.”

Student Senate supervisor Nancy Lafferty was in charge of collecting student registration through the school. She said there might be more than one reason students were unable to vote.

“There were several people who registered who didn’t fill it out correctly,” Lafferty said. “They didn’t put their license number, didn’t sign their name, didn’t fill it out with pencil or just didn’t complete it.”

Many student said they completed the form correctly, but still were unable to vote.

“In all, I think five filled it out correctly,” Lafferty said, “It might have been afterward; we may have gone over the date because it was a last-minute thing.”