Abstract

Research has found that voting is a habit that must be learned early. By implementing a Kids Voting program, students learn about the voting process and civic responsibility, and will more likely become informed and civic-minded adults who will take an active role in the democratic process. Jeannie Mauldin, an educator at Rosemont Elementary School, submitted this effective practice in March 2002, after her school in LaGrange, Georgia, helped increase voter turnout in the district by 7 percent, providing absentee ballots to students from precincts that had not yet adopted a Kids Voting program.

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Issue

How best to foster civic awareness at an early age to deal with the problems of voter apathy and nonparticipation.

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Action

By implementing a Kids Voting program, students learn about the voting process and civic responsibility, and will more likely become informed and civic-minded adults who will take an active role in the democratic process. Effective practices in the areas of planning, curriculum, activities and special events include:

Planning:

• The program begins with the creation of a local Kids Voting Board of Directors. Boards are representative of the community in terms of gender, ethnicity and race. Parents, business leaders, civic organization representatives, and students all serve on local boards. The board raises funds to support the local program, hires a part-time director to coordinate the program, and recruits volunteers to staff the polling areas on Election Day.
• The program is structured on the principle of nonpartisanship. At every state board meeting a statement is read making it clear to all involved in the program that they leave their personal politics aside.

Curriculum:

• Participating schools agree to invest a minimum of 4 to 6 hours of instructional time teaching the Kids Voting Curriculum in the weeks leading up to an election.
• Teachers incorporate the hands-on Kids Voting USA Curriculum (Civics Alive!) into their classroom in kindergarten through twelfth grades.
• The interdisciplinary curriculum varies depending on grade level. For instance, kindergarteners learn what democracy is and why people are stronger working together as citizens. Older students study issues and candidates and decide for themselves which candidate they favor and which side of an issue to take. Students communicate what they learn about candidates and issues in oral presentations and written documents. Math teachers can ask students to sample the student body and make projections on which candidates will win and which side of an issue will triumph. Students are taught where to look for trustworthy and unbiased information on issues and candidates, and are taught critical thinking skills while forming an opinion. Teachers act as facilitators as students debate issues and form their own opinions.
• Students are encouraged to talk with their parents and get their opinions and perspectives.
• Teachers educate students about the mechanics of voting so that the voting process will be less intimidating at the precinct. Students are given the opportunity to register in class as a Kids Voting voter, and they are supposed to present their voter registration card at the precinct before they can vote. If they have lost their card, poll workers for Kids Voting either waive the registration card requirement or give them another one to fill out at the time of voting.

Activities:

• On Election Day students go to real precincts with their parents or guardians. Community volunteers are there to greet them at a voting booth that is separate from the actual election.
• The students are given a Kids Voting ballot so they can make their preferences known. Kindergarten and younger grade students vote on major candidates such as President and Governor only. Older students vote on the major candidates and all the same issues and races as adults.
• If the students learn their parents cannot take them to the precinct on Election Day, they can request an absentee ballot, which will be counted according to procedure.
• Volunteers work into the evening to tabulate the students' returns.
• Students hear the results on the local news that evening or over the PA system at school the next morning.
• In the 2000 election, Forsyth County, Georgia, students involved in the Kids Voting program voted electronically. This activity served to demonstrate for students how they may one day vote as adults, and at the same time helped inform adults what does and doesn't work about electronic voting.

Special Events:

• In Macon, Georgia, a Celebration of Kids Voting Day was held in September 2000. Featured wishes for the country were written by children and hung from a tree in downtown Macon, where a string quartet played the National Anthem and awards were given for the winners of a poster design contest to publicize voting.

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Context

Kids Voting USA is a non-profit, nonpartisan, grassroots organization working with schools and communities to enhance civics education and provide youth with a voting experience at official polls on Election Day. Major national sponsors include the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, AOL Time Warner Foundation, State Farm Insurance Companies and the United States Department of Education.Kids Voting Georgia began in 1992 in Macon (Bibb County).

By 1998 the number of communities served had grown to 8, and by 2000 the number of communities in the Kids Voting Georgia program had risen to 17. Approximately 150,000 students were involved in 2000 and the expected number is 300,000 for the year 2002.

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Outcome

Kids Voting Georgia

• Gives students hands-on experience about exercising the right to vote.
• Teaches students about the voting process and civic responsibility so that they will more likely become informed and civic-minded adults who will take an active role in the democratic process.
• Concurrently, by involving parents in the program, increases adult voter turnout.

In the 2000 Election

• In 17 Kids Voting Georgia counties, 31 percent of all students cast votes in 277 precincts, involving over 2,000 teachers and poll volunteers.
• Kids Voting activities and media coverage highlighted the value and importance of being an informed voter.
• Post election research comparing voter turnout data from the office of the Secretary of State showed that Kids Voting counties statewide had a 2.6 percent increase of adult voters compared to similar non-Kids Voting counties. (Statistics compiled by Georgia State University.)

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Evidence

• Across the United States, communities with Kids Voting programs have seen a 7 to 10 percent increase in voter turnout.
• A 1999 study conducted by Mercer University determined that students who participate in Kids Voting activities in school are 12 to 19 percent more likely to register and vote when they reach 18 than students who did not attend schools that had Kids Voting programs.
• Researchers at Stanford University and Arizona State University have found that students leave the Kids Voting program better informed on issues and candidates than many adult voters, and a "trickle up" effect exists as students influence the voting decisions and habits of their parents or guardians. (Studies cited on the Kids Voting Georgia Website, 2003.)

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Posted On

January 16, 2003

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For More Information

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Related Practices

• Creating a young people's Bill of Responsibilities

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Related sites

Kids Voting USA

Topic Areas

• Community building
• Civic engagement
• Partnerships
• School-community partnerships
• Community-Based Organizations
• Schools
• Students
• Human needs

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