NEW CANEY, Texas — A New Caney High School parent reached out to the VERIFY team after his daughter saw a poster at school saying it is mandatory for all seniors to register to vote before graduation.
Darrell Pirkey said the sign his daughter saw hanging in the school hallway read, “Attention seniors. Voter registration mandatory for graduation. Report to main auditorium on October 6 during third period.”
“When you see mandatory, you know, the word mandatory, that's kind of making it seem like, okay, you have to do this or you're not going to be able to graduate. Is this legitimate? And if so, when did this become a thing,” Pirkey asked the VERIFY team.
We have two sources for this: New Caney ISD and the Texas Election Code.
Section 13.046 of the law states, “Each principal of a public or private high school shall serve as a deputy registrar”. And that, “at least twice each school year, the deputy registrar shall distribute a registration application to each student who is or will be 18 years of age during that year.”
It does not say that it is mandatory to register to graduate.
“The sign was created by students in reference to an event in government classes to educate students about voting. Unfortunately, the students who posted this sign on the wall did not get proper approval," New Caney High School released in a statement. "It is not mandatory for students to register to vote nor is it a graduation requirement. The sign will be removed.”
So, we can verify, high school seniors are not required to register to vote to graduate.