INDIANAPOLIS — Election Day is coming soon, but Indiana's deadline to register to vote is a month before the polls close. A group of teenagers took it upon themselves to remind the neighborhood around their school.
KIIP Indy Legacy High School students spent Wednesday morning knocking on doors in the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood near Douglass Park.
Indiana's voter registration deadline is Oct. 7 and early voting starts the next day on Oct. 8. You can register to vote or check your voter registration by clicking here.
The students not only encouraged neighbors to vote, but asked them what traits they looked for in a candidate.
"Everybody values integrity and honesty when it comes to voting and who they want to be their president," said Dylon Roundtree, a senior at KIPP Indy Legacy High School.
While the students were canvassing the neighborhood, the Marion County Election Board prepared to mail absentee ballots to more than 10,000 voters across the county.
"It is exciting, this is my Christmas," said Marion County Clerk Kate Sweeney Bell. "This machine allows us to address the needs of the voters and get the ballot to them lickety split."
Sweeney Bell is hopeful for more voter turnout in Indiana following a report that the Hoosier State ranked near the bottom in voter participation.
"In the primary, we had under 13 percent turnout.," Sweeney Bell said. "That's not alright, and I know Indianapolis can do better."
The KIPP Indy Legacy High School students said their experience could alleviate some of Sweeney Bell's concerns.
"A lot of the people we talked to were already registered to vote," said KIPP indy Legacy High School senior Dana Gibson III. "That was surprising."
The deadline for voter registration is Oct. 7, but you can request an absentee ballot until Oct. 24. You must have a reason to vote by mail and provide either a government-issued ID or identifying numbers such as your driver's license number or the last 4 digits of your Social Security number.
