Updated, 2:56 p.m. Aug. 6: Revised to include comment from Frisco ISD and other local school districts.

As a junior, Kundai Nyamandi and her classmates often packed the Frisco Heritage High School auditorium for presentations from school officials, preparing them for their senior year before heading off to college.

Yearbook plans. Senior pictures. Which classes to take.

But she said information on how to register to vote, which state law requires high schools to explain to eligible seniors, never once came up.

"At my school, I know that the AP Government teacher does a great job at informing students," Nyamandi, 17, said. "But a lot of students who aren't taking the course don't get that opportunity."

She's not alone. About 180,000 Texas students were potentially affected over the past two years by their high schools' failure to encourage the next generation of voters to register, according to a new report from the Texas Civil Rights Project, a community attorney group that focuses on voting rights and other social justice issues.

Since 1985, the Texas Election Code has required every high school in the state — public and private — to distribute voter registration applications to eligible students at least twice each school year.

Only 34 percent of high schools requested voter registration forms from the Texas Secretary of State's office, the first step in complying with state law, since October 2016. Some of those high schools got the forms only because their school district did it for them, as is the case in Lewisville and Garland ISDs, according to the report.

"We really think that schools would more than happily do this if the process was made clearer and easier for them," said James Slattery, a senior staff attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project. "When you think about it, they're spending more than eight hours a day managing a school, managing employees. That's a lot."

Meghan Cone, assistant director for communications for Frisco ISD, said in an email that the district's schools offer voter registration cards to students during government and economics classes. Schools also host registration drives — usually during lunch or student advisory periods — at least twice per year in compliance with state law.

"Frisco ISD takes its responsibility seriously to educate students about the right to vote and help them register," she said. "While students may not be aware of all the things Frisco ISD schools are doing to help register students, voter registration has been an ongoing effort in FISD and will continue to be an area of focus headed into the November midterms."

Several Frisco schools get forms directly from Collin or Denton County or local post offices, Cone said, and others have students fill out the form online to then return printed applications to the counties for processing. Schools also utilize volunteer deputy registrars from groups like the American Legion and League of Women Voters, who bring their own registration forms, she said.

"I would anticipate several other school districts utilize similar strategies and resources beyond the Secretary of State's office, which may also help explain the results of the study," Cone said.

Mida Milligan, executive director for communications for Garland ISD, said in an email that the district has worked with local groups, including Dallas County Elections Department, to comply with state law, "providing them with the forms they need to complete in order to actively participate in one of the fundamental features of living in a democracy."

Amanda Brim, chief communications officer for Lewisville ISD, said in an email that the district was one of the few to provide voter registration applications to its students because it's the law.

"But more importantly, we believe the future of our state and country depends on voters being engaged and informed," she said. "That starts early with teaching students who are still in school the importance for voting, and ensuring they are registered to vote."

Students take charge

Though it was released Tuesday, none of the report's findings were news to Hillary Shah, a recent graduate of Lone Star High School in Frisco. She, Nyamandi and a few other peers last semester co-founded the Frisco Student Activist Union, a group trying to increase civic participation among students following the deadly shooting in Parkland, Fla.

The shooting — and the perceived lack of action on guns from state and congressional leaders — spurred high school students in Texas and across the country to start registering voters.

The Frisco Student Activist Union's first move was to plan a walkout where they could register voters at each of the district's nine high schools in response to the shooting. Shah said 2,500 across the district showed up, and 15 eligible seniors registered from Lone Star High School alone, though she did not have a total number for how many were registered across the district.

Please fill out this form if you are interested in joining the Frisco Student Activist Union. This survey will be used to gauge student interest and ensure that all voices are heard when it comes to decisions made by the SAU. https://t.co/9xbR947IAx — Frisco Student Activist Union (@FriscoSAU) July 2, 2018

Following the walkout, Shah said, they registered 20 students through the end of the semester. In the new school year, they hope to register 100 percent of all eligible seniors in the district by the midterm elections, she said.

"We're trying to hold the district accountable, and we're urging them to hold mandatory events during school hours for high school seniors to register themselves," Shah said. "We're trying to make it an active thing, rather than just a table at lunch, because it's never been uniform."

March For Our Lives also formed immediately following the Parkland, Fla. shooting. Members launched a nationwide bus tour that's traveled to 75 cities in more than 20 states throughout the summer, registering high school students ahead of the November midterm elections. They stopped in Dallas last month.

1 / 5Jaclyn Corin (left) high-fives Michael Sorrell, president of Paul Quinn College, during a panel with students from Stoneman Douglas High School from Parkland, Fla., that was held at Paul Quinn College in Dallas on July 7, 2018. (Nathan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer) 2 / 5Cameron Kasky speaks during a panel with students from Stoneman Douglas High School from Parkland, Fla., at Paul Quinn College in Dallas on July 7, 2018. (Nathan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer) 3 / 5From left: Jason Van Dyke and Bryan Alcorn debate with David Hogg and Matt Deitsch with March For Our Lives as a panel with other students from Stoneman Douglas High School from Parkland, Fla., goes on at Paul Quinn College in Dallas on July 7, 2018. (Nathan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer) 4 / 5Parkland student David Hogg, in a white T-shirt, and Matt Deitsch with March for Our Lives listen to gun enthusiast while a panel with other students from Stoneman Douglas High School from Parkland, Fla., goes on at Paul Quinn College in Dallas on July 7, 2018. (Nathan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer) 5 / 5From left: Cera Perry-Johnson hugs Jacquelyn King as Kyrah Simon records a panel with students from Stoneman Douglas High School from Parkland Florida at Paul Quinn College in Dallas on July 7, 2018. (Nathan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer)

Where does the burden lie?

Slattery said the students at Frisco ISD and others across Texas shouldn't have to register their own peers to vote. That burden should fall on the state and high school administrators.

"The secretary of state is the chief elections official," he said. "That's why it's so incumbent on him to be affirmative and proactive in taking whatever steps are necessary to get this information in front of schools."

The state recognizes there's a problem, and it's made a few efforts to address the issue since advocates started sounding alarms more than five years ago.

Last year, the secretary of state asked school superintendents to sign a pledge, promising "100 percent commitment" from their district's principals to improve compliance, and 432 have signed on to date. Sam Taylor, a spokesman for the secretary of state's office, said the new report shows the efforts have paid off — the number has more than doubled among high school principals since the Texas Civil Rights Project's 2016 report, when only 14 percent of schools were compliant.

“We have taken a number of steps to remove barriers for principals, encourage community involvement and implement accountability measures to the maximum extent allowed under the current law,” Taylor said in an email statement. “We look forward to seeing even greater participation among Texas high school principals as they work to ensure all of their eligible students have the opportunity to register to vote as the new school year begins.”

The report shows one assistant principal emailed the secretary of state's office because he could not find the form to request applications, and he was one of several school officials who found themselves in similar situations.

The state could help by developing better methods to comprehensively and effectively educate school officials about the requirements of the law, the Texas Civil Rights Project said in the report.

Students at the Frisco Student Activist Union said the state could also offer more aid to high schools by bringing in trained voter registrars, who can not only give students the necessary forms but also tell them exactly what to fill out and where to send them.

Until then, the Frisco Student Activist Union plans to fill in all the holes it can by registering voters across the district and reaching out to those in power to change district policy. Next week, they're meeting with a director at Frisco ISD, and they'll be at the board's next meeting on Aug. 13, Shah said.

"This is a statewide pandemic, it's not a just a Frisco problem," she said. "I think every Texas public high school needs to play an active part in this, because that's the law, that's their responsibility."

"Students are at the forefront of this," Shah added, "because someone has to be."