Encouraging Students To Vote

The Broward County School District in South Florida helped their students vote during this election. Schools in the district registered students and took them to early voting sites as a field trip. "Assistant principal Julie Biancardi helped register the teens and is pleased with their political knowledge." (October 29, 2008) The Broward County school district has 32 schools with over 70,000 students. All the schools' efforts were nonpartisan.

The same situation during the primaries occurred in Hammond Indiana with a different reaction. Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. called the field trip to early voting sites for the primaries unethical. Mayor McDermott (a Hillary Clinton Supporter) stated, "To me it seems like an orchestrate effort on behalf of the Obama campaign to take kids who should be in school learning to read and write, instead giving them a day off and telling them to vote for Obama." (April 24, 2008)

If these efforts help people register and become involved in their communities, should these efforts to help students register and provide transportation to voting sites be spread to other schools and school districts? There is no law saying that these actions are illegal, then shouldn't all schools begin helping their students?

What Are You Doing In Your High School?

Tell us what efforts you have seen in your high school to help students register to vote. Any school board, teacher or outside efforts? We'd love to hear about them in your comments.

The Process

Step 1: Get a Group Together

Create a group of interested school leaders, staff members, and students to work together to determine the language your school will have on the Diploma.

Step 2: The Work

• Get the approval of the principal for this project.
• Discuss what it means to be a citizen and then decide upon the criteria for a student be regarded as an active member of the school and non-school communities.
• Create the language for your school’s Citizen Diploma.

Step 3: The Graduation

Based on the criteria decided upon by the committee, the selection process can begin. Which students will be awarded Citizen Diplomas during your school’s commencement

ceremony?

How To Make It Happen

Students

• Be appointed by a teacher to start a OneVote campaign at your school.
• Talk to your Principal about OneVote
• Be a leader: Involve your friends and fellow students in OneVote.

Teachers/Guidance Counselors

• Engage the Principal in the OneVote process.
• Become a OneVote Organizer.
• Recruit students to participate in OneVote

Principals

• OneVote and your school.
• Becoming connected to OneVote
• Appointing Campaign organizers

Parents

• Your child, your school, their vote
• OneVote’s role
• Community connections

School Board Members

• OneVote in your schools
• Engaging Principals
• How CBOs can help

Community Members

• Connecting to your local high school

Top Seven FAQ's

1. Why Should I Vote?

• Because you are citizen of this country, and it is your civic duty.
• Because your one vote combined with the votes of people with the same political views can make a difference.
• Because people died for your right to vote in our democracy.
  

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2. I cannot Vote. What can I do?

If you cannot vote, there are still many ways you can participate in your community:

• You can join a community board or community safety team.
• You can volunteer for candidates or officials who support programs that you that you believe in.
  
• You can also check with your state’s secretary for more information on how you can become active in your state and in your community.

3. How can I register to vote?

There are a number of places where you can go to pick up a voter registration form:

• The post office, the library, a fire station, Department of Motor Vehicles, welfare departments, and the City/County Office of Elections.

You need valid proof of identity (check with your state to find what qualifies as proof of identity).

4. How old to I have to be to register to vote?

In order to register to vote for the first time, you must be able to prove that you will be 18 years of age by the next upcoming election.

5. Is it legal to Register students on high school grounds?

There are no laws on record strictly forbidding this, but you must obtain permission from the administration of the school where you intend to have a voter registration drive.

6. Does the voter registration process vary according to the state?

Yes. Contact you local board of elections or state secretary to find our registration details.

7. Do I have to join a political party to register to vote?

No, but in some states you cannot vote in a primary election unless you are in a party.

Steps

START TALKING

Begin a conversation with high school seniors on why we should vote. Discuss the history behind voting rights.

• When did blacks get the right to vote?
• When did women?

REGISTER HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS

Contact* your local Boards of Education and you Secretary of State about details of registering high school students.

* There is NO legal prohibition regarding registering high school students on public school grounds, after obratining permission from the principal and the local school board (as long as the initiative is nonpartisan).

LEVERAGING THE HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION CEREMONY

Principals, school board members and students figure out how to use the high school graduation ceremony to acknowledge seniors who have registered. School can decide on the details:

• Have all students who registered stand
• Look at current language of diploma
• Consider issuing a Citizen Diploma along with academic diploma