Central students eligible to vote cast their ballots in the national midterm election on Nov. 8. 

School was canceled as election day is now a state holiday following the passage of a state bill in 2020.

Young voters contributed to Democrat wins across the nation, NPR reported.

Senior Mylo Zards said he voted because he felt it was his civic duty.

“Everyone has the right to vote, needs to vote and should vote,” Senior Mylo Zards said. “I have the mentality that if you don’t vote you shouldn’t be complaining about the things you don’t like or that [are] bad.”

Senior Megan Donson said she voted because she was passionate about certain political issues.

“I wanted to make sure that we kept our governor because I liked his policies,” Donson said. “And I also wanted to make sure that, women’s health care, would be protected. I think it’s important for people, especially our age, to vote, because we are the future generation.”

Senior Esha Singh said she was passionate about climate change and abortion rights.

“I felt like it was a really important way for me to be involved directly in the community, especially since there were mostly local elections,” she said.

Singh registered at Central with the League of Women Voters, who helped register voters on April 12 and April 26.

“I figured you know what, might as well do it now than wait,” Singh said. “They were really, really helpful and they explained the process to me. They gave me a sheet that had all my information on, and they were like, `if you bring this with you and your vote, everything would be fine.’”

Before voting, Singh met and spoke with candidates to understand them more, she said. 

“In September, I spoke at an event regarding abortion rights and a lot of the local candidates were there so I got to meet some of that some of their policies regarding abortion or other topics I’m passionate about,” Singh said. “Laura Ellman was there, Chang Evans was there, Bill Foster was there. It’s just because I would not have known much about these people if I didn’t, like get involved in them myself. It was a really good way to learn more about the candidates.

Zards also researched candidates before voting. 

“I did research especially on like the lesser known candidates, especially [on] the judicial [candidates],” Zards said. “We even had some people come out to our house and advertise but I did my own research.”