Voting

Is the Electoral College the Best System to Elect Our President? A short article for grades 3 and up.

Grace for President Book read aloud on YouTube all ages includes info about the electoral college.

Voting Rights in the 2016 Election A short article for grades 3 and up.

The Voting Rights Act: Ten Things You Should Know. Article. By Emilye Crosby and Judy Richardson. 2015. Grades 4 and up. Key points in the history of the 1965 Voting Rights Act missing from most textbooks.

Cobblestone Magazine: VOTING RIGHTS IN AMERICA  In colonial America, who established the precedent that only white, property-owning men would have the right to vote? How did African Americans and Native Americans gain full citizenship and federally recognised voting rights? Who were some of the biggest names in the struggle for women’s suffrage?

Voting now, voting then  What was the voting experience like for African Americans in the Jim Crow era? This resource is for older students (HS) but teachers will find it useful. Upper elementary school students can learn that literacy tests were used to keep people of color — and, sometimes, poor whites — from voting. Students can view The 1965 Alabama Literacy Test.

Did voters turn out — or are they turned off?  This activity will examine the percentage of the voting-age population (VAP) who turned out to vote. Grades 3 and up

See the following page for voter turnout statistics:

United States Elections Project: Voter turnout 2012

United States Elections Project: Voter turnout 2008

United States Elections Project: Voter turnout 2004

Learning to vote (Adult Resource)

http://smartbrief.com/original/2016/12/learning-vote?utm_source=brief

2016 November General Election Turnout Rates

Special interests: How would a legislator vote? Grades 3 and up. In these role-plays, students act as elected officials who must vote on five bills that relate to special interests of groups that financed their campaigns. How will they vote?