ELKINS — West Virginia Secretary of State Kris Warner visited Elkins High School and Tygarts Valley High School recently to encourage eligible seniors to register to vote before the next general election in 2026.

“We have something in our office called the Jennings Randolph Award, named after our own U.S. senator, Jennings Randolph, who fought for 29 years to get the 26th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution passed,” Warner told The Inter-Mountain after the school visits. “So we have this award for if (schools around the state) register 85% of (their) high school seniors, they can win the Jennings Randolph Silver Award.”

If 100% of a senior class in a school register to vote, they can win the Jennings Randolph Gold Award. Lead students in the Silver Award and the Gold Award will receive Student Ambassador certificates from Warner. Two seniors are also taken to Charleston and introduced to the legislature.

Sen. Robbie Morris and Randolph County County Clerk Brenda Wiseman joined Warner at Elkins High School. The visit to EHS was part of a registering push.

Warner said that, based on the questions that were asked of him, the students at Elkins High School were focused on deciding which political party to register under.

“We’re not there to influence them one way or the other,” Warner said. “We just want them to be able to register to vote and to know how easy it is to switch parties.”

Morris also joined Warner at Tygarts Valley High School, along with Rep. Jonathan Kyle. Warner explained that the visit to Tygarts Valley High was “a little bit different” as the school had, at the time, already registered approximately 98% of its senior class.

The visit to the school turned out to be quite the educational opportunity for students as one of the substitute teachers for the day was Ella Mae Thompson Haddix, the first 18-year-old in the U.S. to register to vote after the 26th Amendment was passed.

“It was really neat to see that some of the students did not know that Mrs. Haddix, a substitute teacher there, was the first ever 18-year-old to register in the entire country,” Warner said. “Ella Mae Thompson Haddix went with Senator Randolph as soon as the 26th Amendment of The Constitution passed… She told that story today about why she thought it was so important (to register to vote)… We had living history in the classroom today.”

Warner added that the Tygarts Valley High School students seemed very engaged with the discussion and asked a lot of great questions, including as to why the West Virginia Republican Party chose to close its Primary Election in 2026, which limits the election to Republican voters only.

Students also asked Warner about his history in politics and what he would recommend to anyone who wanted to run for office.

Warner stated that, in September, he and his team visited two high schools a day throughout the state, and they had registered approximately 1,500 students in that month alone.

When asked if students throughout the state seemed excited to vote in the next general election, Warner said he believed the enthusiasm towards registering to vote has been “off the charts” based on previous years.

While a high number of registration is one thing, actual voter turnout is another, and when asked if he believed the enthusiasm towards registration meant that there would be a higher voter turnout in 2026, Warner said he hopes students will come out to vote, but added that it duty of the political parties and candidates to draw in the voters.

“It’s the political candidates and the political parties, that’s their responsibility is to turn out the vote,” Warner said. “We had 67% of West Virginians registered to vote that voted in the last general election, but I’m not going to be there to try and lean on somebody to actually go vote. That’s up to them.”