Parkland Activist Wants Every High School In America To Hold A Voter Registration Drive

Forget “thoughts and prayers,” teen activist David Hogg is organizing nationwide voter registration events

In the months after the mass shooting Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 people dead and another 17 wounded, a group of surviving students have jumped into action, shocking and inspiring the country with their eloquence, organization, and determination. Even as the school year is coming to a close and graduation looms, senior David Hogg continues his fight for better gun control.

After helping organize national marches, boycotts, and walkouts, Hogg is spending May focused on voter registration — specifically, making sure high school kids are registering to vote as soon as they turn 18 and before the vital midterm elections take place later this year.

Hogg wants every high school in America to hold a voter registration event before May 29 — that’s 26,000 high schools filled with teens that will be able to vote for the very first time this year. Students (or teachers or administrators) can learn how to run a registration drive by themselves through the website Head Count, which provides citizens with all of the information and resources they need to take action. Hogg said in a tweet today that more than 100 schools have already signed up.

With six months to go until the midterm elections, the Parkland teens, which also include students Alfonso Calderon, Sarah Chadwick, Jaclyn Corin, Ryan Deitsch, Emma González, and Alex Wind, are not slowing down their activism in the months after the shooting. Many, including Hogg, plan to take a gap year before entering college so that they can focus on their goal of better gun laws and school shooting prevention. Along with hashtags #NeverAgain and #EnoughIsEnough, the group is focusing on #REV, which stands for “Register, Educate, Vote.”

Hogg and his sister Lauren also recently announced a book deal related to the shooting. Published by random House, #NeverAgain will tell the story of the Parkland shooting, the aftermath, and the teen-led gun control movement that followed.

Hogg entered the national spotlight after the Parkland shooting when he told CNN, “We’re children. You guys are the adults. You need to take some action and play a role. Work together. Get over your politics and get something done.”

Since then, he’s been a leader in the national, teen-led movement for smarter and better gun control laws, drawing ire from conservatives, personal attacks, and even some pretty crazy conspiracy theories.

Most recently Hogg spoke out at against President Donald Trump, who will be speaking at the National Rifle Association convention for the fourth year in a row, even after he verbally supported some gun control ideas shortly following the Parkland Shooting.

“It’s kind of hypocritical of him to go there after saying so many politicians bow to the NRA and are owned by them,” Hogg said. “It proves that his heart and his wallet are in the same place.”

Which is exactly why Hogg’s mission to get kids like him to vote is exactly the right