Election Day

Our school is a polling place, which makes our Election Day tradition all the more real for the children.








As a child, while I sat coloring during my mother's many League of Women Voters meetings, the importance of voting quietly seeped into my subconscious.  After death, if my mother were to choose an issue over which to haunt, not voting would be high on her list.  It is my hope to infect the children who pass through our classroom doors with the same drive to participate in democracy. 

Every year on Election Day, the citizens of Room 15 hold a Kids' Favorites election.  Before the big day, the children caucus to select candidates for the ballot for categories such as Musical Artists, TV Shows, Movies, Toys, etc.  This morning, each child, as a citizen of Room 15, received a personalized voter registration card.  All morning, eager voters were asking when the polls would open.  "When will we get to vote?"

First, we read Election Day (Rookie Read-About Holidays).  We talked about some of the ways to gather information about candidates and issues in order to become an informed voter: watching political debates, reading the newspaper, or researching the candidates on the internet.  I also showed the children my copy of the League of Women Voters Voter Guide and explained that each candidate's answers to a series of questions are printed just as they were submitted (spelling and grammar errors and all) so that voters can read and decide who would best represent them. 

After a reading of Granddaddy's Gift and a discussion of how voting rights and elections have changed in our country, the children were indignant about all those who were, in the past, excluded from decision-making in our country, and they were even more ready to exercise their right to vote.   I am proud to report that even on a stormy afternoon, I don't think rain, wind, or hail would have kept these voters home! (However, one unfortunate voter did somehow lose his voter registration card in the 45-minute period between receiving it and needing it in order to vote.)  As soon as the polls opened, the children lined up and waited, voter registration certificates in hand. 

Each voter presented his/her voter registration certificate, signed in on the list of registered voters for Precinct 15, and received a paper ballot.

Each voter entered a private voting booth and voted by secret ballot.  Precinct 15 voters were not required to share their choices with anyone.

Finally, voters placed their ballots in the "secure" ballot box (and kept their voter registration certificates in case of a run-off election!).

There's a Book for That!
Election Day (Rookie Read-About Holidays) by Patricia Murphy
Granddaddy's Gift by Margaree King Mitchell