To the editor:

I am writing in response to a letter in the Aug. 23 Alexandria Times, “Press has unique role in exposing wrongdoing,” primarily its insinuation that the recent voter registration drive at T.C. Williams was part of a nefarious scheme to convince elected officials to install lights at the school’s stadium.

As a younger person who lives — and votes — in Alexandria, it saddened me to read Dino Drudi’s suggestion that this voter registration drive was not to encourage more of his fellow residents to get involved in shaping their city, but instead some kind of scheme to undermine promises made to neighbors of the school about lights.

Whatever your opinion of the potential lights at T.C. Williams, surely reasonable people can agree that younger generations should be more civically involved. Young voters are under-represented in the electorate, which contributes to the trend of our elected officials being overwhelmingly older than, and less engaged with, the people they purport to represent.

Voter registration drives in high schools should be encouraged, not belittled. They are about showing students that they can make their voices heard by voting, and by becoming more civically engaged. We should not dismiss their efforts as some kind of government-led plot to defraud the public.

-Chris Teale, Alexandria