As junior Katherine Perez was guiding voters to the ballot machines, she felt like she accomplished a milestone. When she handed the “I voted” sticker to a woman who just submitted her ballot, the woman said to her, “It’s amazing to see a young person here.” Perez felt special to be recognized since she was the youngest person there.

Students volunteered at voting centers during the primary elections to support the voting process and make an impact on their community.

Junior Abril Rivera decided to volunteer after hearing about the opportunity from her sister. She thought it would be an incredible way to learn how voting works and what elections are like in Texas.

Junior Irina Haider learned about the opportunity from a friend and decided to volunteer because she believes voting is important to our society and wants to help.

Perez found the opportunity through a Schoology group about community service hours. She decided to sign up for it because she wanted to see how elections are conducted.

A couple of weeks before Election Day, they went to the Dallas Election Center to receive training. They learned how to check people in, how the ballot machines work and how to answers any questions voters may have. They also learned what to do in situations where voters are at the wrong location or if they’re not registered.

Rivera was assigned to a Dallas ISD school and volunteered there from 6:30 in the morning to 10:30 in the afternoon. She worked in the poll books where she checked if people were registered to vote and if they’re at the right location through an iPad. Afterwards, she guided them to their ballot machines.

Rivera had 10 to 15 people come in who weren’t registered to vote, so she had to direct them to a judge who gives them a last minute registration.

“It happens like the majority of the time,” Rivera said. “It’s for people who haven’t voted in a while and they decided to vote this year, so they usually forget to register to vote.”

Rivera also had 15 to 20 people come in who were in the wrong location. When she checks them in through the iPad, it tells her what precinct they need to be in. She told them what location they need to be at and the directions to get there.

Haider was assigned to Heights Elementary and volunteered there for the afternoon. She checked people in and directed them to the ballot machines. During her first hour there, she saw Principal Chris Choat.

“It was very surprising and also, I feel very accomplished checking in our principal, helping him do such an important thing for our state,” Haider said.

Haider also saw a family of four who came in to vote together. She said seeing them made her realize how important and crucial these elections are for some families.

“It made me think voting should be a necessity for everyone,” Haider said. “It should be a priority for you if you can.”

Perez was assigned to Luna Elementary School and volunteered there from 5:30 in the morning to 7:40 in the afternoon. In the morning, she brought out the ballot machines and got them online. Later, she started checking voters in by scanning their id and giving them their ballots. In the afternoon, she gave stickers to voters who turned in their ballots.

Perez said multiple people told her they were proud of her volunteering and loved to see young people get involved with elections.

“Honestly, that felt really good,” Perez said.

She said she was happy to see a lot of people coming to vote, because people normally only pay attention to presidential elections. It inspired her to vote in every election she possibly can.

Perez said she learned how to work with people she didn’t agree with politically. She wasn’t allowed to say anything political while she was volunteering, which was hard at first because she’s passionate and has a lot of strong opinions. But after talking with her co-workers and checking people in, no one brought up their political opinions and she said it was good getting to know them as actual people.

“They’re here for the same reason I would be here, to get change,” Perez said.

Rivera volunteered with a group of older people in their 70s and had a fun time getting to know them. While she thought it would be boring at first, they were really talkative and wanted to get to know her. They also told her what it would be like volunteering since they have already done it before.

“They had such a good experience that they want to sign me up again for next time, so hopefully I get to do that again with the same group,” Rivera said.

Rivera said she realized how frustrating it can be working at an election center, because there’s so many rules they have to follow that voters may not realize. For example, they can’t interrupt anyone from voting and can’t have their phone within a 100 feet of a voting station.

Recently, voters have to be separated to a political party and Rivera said it was difficult because a lot of people didn’t know what party they wanted to vote for and what they were registered under. She said a lot of voters showed their frustration on her which wasn’t fair because most of the time, she can’t do anything about the rules.

“I feel like they think it’s really easy when it’s not,” Rivera said. “When you’ve worked in an election, it’s pretty like intense.”

Haider said she wasn’t always aware about the significance of primary elections, but after volunteering, she learned to be more mindful and to keep track of smaller elections because they’re also important.

“Once I turn 18, I’m going to vote,” Haider said.

Rivera said she learned that she really wants to be apart of her community and fulfill her responsibility by voting.

“I think it’s really important to vote to make a change in your government,” Rivera said.