North Fort Myers High School Leads Lee County Voter Registration Drive With 869 New Voters

North Fort Myers High School is the winner of the 2024-2025 High School Voter Registration Challenge, beating out 12 other Lee County schools by getting 18% of their eligible students registered.

The county-wide effort brought in 869 new voters between August 2024 and February 2025. Mariner High School came in second with 14% of students signing up, while Cypress Lake High grabbed third place with 10%.

Community Education Services staff handled 384 registration updates during the campaign. Teams from the Lee County Elections Center spent the year hosting registration events and teaching students how to vote.

"It was a successful school year of voter registration drives and educational presentations,” Supervisor of Elections Tommy Doyle said in a prepared statement to Cape Coral Breeze. "Our team could not have achieved this without the support of the schools. As a result of this partnership, many students are now prepared to vote for the first time in next year's election cycle."

The competition has been teaching young people about civic participation since 1999. Florida law allows teens to preregister at 16, though they can't vote until they turn 18.

The school board will recognize the winning schools on May 6. 

Lee County plans to keep this successful program going through 2027.