FORSYTH - Caitlin Chase read the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to classmates in the GED class at the Education and Training Center on Wednesday.

That amendment gave women the right to vote in 1920, after the suffragettes, as women agitating for the right were called, fought for it for years.

In this historic election year, said Jaci Osborne, work force specialist at the center, with both a woman and an African-American among the candidates, she wanted to highlight the Constitutional amendments that made that possible. A way to do that was to hold a public voter registration event at the center.

"We're registering the students to vote who aren't registered," Osborne said. "And it's open to the public, so anyone can come in and get registered to vote."

Without the 15th Amendment, which gave African-American men the right to vote, and the 19th Amendment, this year's election would look very different, she said.

"We want (the students) to realize it's their duty to vote, and how everything came about," she said.

Osborne had hoped to have a soldier who just returned from Iraq attend the event, but he had been up for 72 hours and couldn't make it.

Macon County historian Lee Slider gave a talk on the history of the county, and Sgt. 1st Class Deon Bates, along with Staff Sgt. James Bennett and Staff Sgt. Leon Bright, explained Selective Service registration and helped young men sign up online.

"It's required for every male between 18 and 25," Bates said. "Because if they try to go out and get loans for college, if you haven't signed up for (Selective Service), you probably won't get a student loan."

The draft has not been used since 1973, and today's armed services are all-volunteer, Bates said, but the registration is necessary for backup in case it should be needed again someday.

Chase, 18, registered to vote Wednesday.

"It's important to be able to have a say in who we have as president," she said.

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