With elections only a few months away, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate is encouraging Iowa high schools to participate in a statewide effort to register students to vote.

To do this, Pate created the Carrie Chapman Catt Award in 2019. The award, named after an Iowa native and national leader in the women’s suffrage movement, recognizes Iowa high schools that register at least 90 percent of their eligible students by March 22. Last year, 19 Iowa schools were recognized, including Fairfield and Lone Tree High Schools. Lone Tree received the award for the fourth time in as many years, one of only five schools in Iowa to do so. Schools that register 50 and 70 percent of eligible students receive recognition as well.

Pate spoke with KCII about the importance of voter registration last year after awarding Lone Tree its third Catt Award. “It’s the starting point. If you want to be in the race you have to register for it. That gives you the ticket to be a part of our democracy. Young people are underestimated in so many ways, but we’ve seen in the last few elections in Iowa the eighteen to twenty-four-year-olds have been voting in record numbers.”

Any schools interested in being considered for the Carrie Chapman Catt Award can click here.