The final day to register to vote in the March 1 primary is Friday, so anyone who hasn’t signed up and wants to should get a move on.

On Tuesday, students at Keith High School took a field trip to the Dallas County Courthouse to get registered to vote. The Keith seniors all signed up, even those who had to send their registration forms in, but couldn’t make the field trip.

There’s a lesson to be learned from those students, who obviously understand how valuable the right to vote is. It says a lot about our next generation of students, especially the ones who have grown up in this area and understand the uphill climb many overcame to earn the right to vote.

We’ve written it before and we’ll say it again with this deadline looming large for the upcoming election. Selma should always have one of the highest voter turnouts in the state, considering how many dedicated their lives to earning the right to cast a vote during the 1960s.

A plea should never have to be written to encourage those in our city to get to their polling location to vote, but we’re doing it anyways.

Over the last few election cycles, voting numbers from Selma haven’t been encouraging, but that could be due to the lack of hotly contested local races and it not being a presidential year.

This year we’re hoping that changes.

Iowa and New Hampshire have already experienced high voter turnout in a presidential race that doesn’t look like it’ll be decided any time soon. The tight race means our vote in Alabama will have a real say in who the final candidates are in the fall.

Friday is the last chance to have a vote toward our country’s future. Make sure to take the time to register.