This is a guest post by Meg Steele, who works with K-12 teachers at the Library of Congress. Sarah Haro, an intern in the Library’s education office, contributed research to this post.
Election Day is almost here. While the candidates and campaigns make one last pitch for votes, many classrooms and schools prepare to hold their own mock elections not only to engage students in current events, but also to teach and learn about one of the most important roles of citizens: voting.
When I taught middle school, having my students design and run a mock election was one of my favorite teaching experiences. In 2008, my 8th grade social studies class was in charge—from soup to nuts—and it gave them one of the best real world learning experiences I have ever seen. They were challenged to think deeply about the purposes and goals of the voting process, and then to design and plan each element: who can vote and when (teachers were denied suffrage!), how people would vote, and what the registration process looked like.
But nothing engaged them more than the task of designing the actual ballot. Though it only had two candidates, it took an entire class period plus homework. The discussion they had was rich—about fairness, visual literacy, communication. Making decisions required deliberation, compromise and focus.
Before your students design their own mock election for 2012, engage them with Election Day primary sources from the past. We’ve gathered resources here to organize your study into three focus areas.
Designing a Ballot
Use these images to consider why ballot design is important to the voting process.