TWO AREA TEACHERS NAMED TO FIRST VOTE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

JEFFERSON CITY - Two area teachers have been named to the Missouri 1st Vote Advisory Committee of educators, students and election officials by Secretary of State Judith Moriarty.

Named to the group were Alberta Dougan, from the Department of History at Southeast Missouri State University, and Rhett Oldham, a social studies teacher at Perryville High School.

Missouri 1st Vote is a classroom voter education and registration program, designed to inspire youth to participate in the electoral process. Participating schools will be provided a video, teacher's guide, posters, brochures and voter registration cards.

The advisory committee met recently at the State Information Center in Jefferson City to begin work on the teacher's guide and promotional materials to complement the classroom registration of students.

All of the materials will be distributed early next April.

Moriarty stressed the importance of getting young people registered and involved in the process early.

"I believe adults must encourage young people to participate in the electoral process and establish habits that will last a lifetime," said Moriarty. "Innovative programs such as Missouri 1st Vote will help us to achieve this goal in Missouri."