Fewer New York City 18-year-olds are registered to vote than their suburban counterparts and cars are a big reason.

    Suburban kids are usually champing at the bit to get behind the wheels of their parents' cars unsupervised. They turn 18 and head to the local State Department of Motor Vehicles office - and can register to vote at the same time.

    Most city kids, like their parents, don't drive or own cars.

    The Youth Voter Project has been working to register eligible high school students since February.

    It's the brainchild of Manhattan Hunter Science High School history teacher Kevin Froner and was run as a nonpartisan class project with students Pavel Borisenko, Lily Chiu, Jenneida Cruz, Alaa Ebid, Andy Liu Fu, Sharrie Huang, Rebeca Huntt, Nicholas Iacovino, Yonnette Joseph, Olga Kirshenbaum, Damla Oral, Hector Santiago, Amy Shen and Didi Shum.

    "Our mission was to register every single high school student who is eligible to vote," Froner said. "We talked a lot in the class about political activism. This was a way for the students to get involved firsthand."

    Froner points out that only 45% of eligible voters between 18 to 24 years old voted in the 2004 presidential election, but 70% of that age group who were registered voted.

    "If you register young people to vote, 70% of them will vote," Froner said. "We thought the best way to make a difference this year and the best year to make a difference and give back to this city was to register young people to vote."

    With help from the NYC Voter Assistance Commission, the Daily News' Newspaper in Education program, Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott's office and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, the Youth Voter Project teamed up with 51 schools across the city to register as many of their 18-year-old cohorts as possible.

    Participants created a Web site - www.youthvoteproject.org - with a downloadable voter registration form. They also started a petition supporting the creation of a national voter registration day in which all high school seniors could be registered to vote.

    Some 901 people from around the country had signed the petition as of last week.

    Class members went to City Hall, where they met with a member of Mayor Bloomberg's office.

    Teams of students contacted every high school in the city by phone or e-mail to ask principals for help registering seniors to vote.

    "We ran into so many schools that denied us entry," said Iacovino. "One woman we got on the phone said she didn't think it was a good idea."

    Others hit the street and local high schools with registration forms.

    The entire effort was nonpartisan, Froner said.

    More than 1,000 people were added to the voter lists because of their efforts - 400 of them at Port Richmond High School on Staten Island.

    It was a lesson in applied civics, and was not always easy, especially when you show up, at say, City Hall without an appointment.

    "We thought we were important enough to not need one," said Borisenko.

    "This is the United States of America after all. If you show up and wait, they have to see you eventually."