Welcome to election season! From now until November you and your students will be bombarded with political ads, newspaper stories, and other signs of the upcoming races. Of course, since it is not a presidential election year, you may be tempted to let the topic of elections slide with only a minor mention. But as this online issue demonstrates, it's important and exciting to explore elections every year—no matter which races and questions are on the ballot.

By teaching about the electoral process, you can show students how subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) changes in the balance of power can impact our national, state, and local governments. You also have the opportunity to remind students that voting is both a treasured right and a serious responsibility.

Celebrate the electoral process with the stories in this issue, then turn to the activities and reproducible activities below to create mini-lessons around this important citizenship theme.

Materials: poster board, paints, markers

Curriculum Connections: citizenship, persuasive writing

Objective: Students will create posters for local polling places urging area citizens to get out and vote.

Getting Ready: Review with students the history of voting in the United States. When discussing the women's suffragist movement, ask: Why did women feel that the right to vote was worth fighting so hard for? Do you agree with them? Then, share with students these sobering voting facts:

• In the 2000 presidential election, only 28 percent of young voters (ages 18 to 24) voted.
  
• In that same election, just under 60 percent of older voters (age 65 and older) went to the polls.
  
• In a midterm election like this year's, far fewer voters tend to vote.
  

To what do your students attribute such low turnout among young Americans? What do they think could be done to improve numbers at the polls?

What to Do:

1. Have students brainstorm a message they'd like to convey to voters in your area. What would they say to remind voters of the importance of exercising this privilege?
   
2. Distribute poster board and other materials. Have students sum up their voting message in a short, catchy slogan at the top of the poster. Beneath the slogan, have students list pertinent information for voters: the date of the election, the times polling places are open, locations of polling places, and the phone number for your local board of elections.
   
3. Invite students to illustrate their posters with artwork or colorful borders.
   
4. Ask your board of elections for permission to display the posters near polling places (your school, library, municipal building, and church halls are some likely spots). Area shops may also be willing to let you hang posters in their windows.

Materials: Reproducible 1: Explore the Issues and Candidates

Curriculum Connections: debate, compare/contrast, research, current events

Objective: Students will research the candidates running for a particular office as well as the issues involved in that particular race, then hold a classroom debate.

Getting Ready:

• Explain that one reason young voters often give for not going to the polls is a lack of information about the candidates.
  
• Point out that the facts are available, and that it is a voter's responsibility to learn as much as he or she can.
  
• Brainstorm with students a variety of sources of information about the issues and candidates involved in a race (newspaper and magazine articles, editorials, television ads, televised or radio debates, pamphlets and fliers, etc.).
  
• Decide together which sources are most reliable and objective—and why. For example, a TV ad paid for by a candidate's supporters would focus on information designed to make that candidate look suitable and his or her opponent appear unsuitable for the office.

What to Do:

1. Distribute the reproducible. Have students use the questions to begin researching a particular race in your area. This activity works best when groups of students research the same election simultaneously, focusing on different candidates and issues.
   
2. Have students document their sources of information.
   
3. Allow about a week for students to find the information. If necessary, show students how to use periodical databases online or in your school or local library. Older articles will reveal what candidates have said about particular issues in the past as well as an incumbent's record on issues.
   
4. Have them check local newspapers every night for news about their candidate and his or her opponent(s). Political ads and fliers may be used, but should be checked against other, more objective sources. In some cases, students may even wish to call a candidate's headquarters to inquire about the candidate's stand on an issue.
   
5. When students have completed the worksheet, group them together according to the race they explored. Have students form two or more sides, one for each major candidate in the race. Students should pool the information they found.
   
6. Using the data students have collected on the issues, conduct a classroom debate with one student representing each candidate. Divide the debate into segments for the major issues.

Materials: Reproducible 2: Elected Official Profile

Objective: Students will choose a government office (Governor, Mayor, President, etc.) and research the office's length of term, job responsibilities, and other important facts.

Curriculum Connections: research, social studies, citizenship

Getting Ready: Point out to students that with several races going on simultaneously, it can be confusing to remember which government official does what! Explain that in this activity, students will select one office to research. The office should be one that is being decided in this year's election.

What to Do:

1. Distribute the reproducible and invite students to select one of the offices named on the page. Students may also choose an office not listed here.
   
2. Using print and online sources, have students find out how often that government official is elected, where he or she works, and what he or she does. Students should also find out who votes for that position: For example, when voting for a U.S. Representative, voters from a relatively small district decide the race. When voting for Governor or U.S. Senator, all of the voters in the state participate in the election.
   
3. Use the final date to compare and contrast different offices.

Extension Activity: Have students decide which office they would most like to run for and write a brief essay explaining why.

Materials: dictionary, Reproducible 3: Make an Electionary

Curriculum Connections: language arts, citizenship

Objective: Students will become familiar with important election-related terms and create a dictionary of those words complete with definitions and contextual uses.

Getting Ready: Write the following words on the board:
Ballot
Campaign
Candidate
Congress
Election
Exit poll
Gubernatorial
Inauguration
Incumbent
Landslide
Opinion poll
Party
Polling place
Race
Sound bite
Term of office
Ask students how many of these election terms they recognize. Explain that elections have a unique vocabulary and that students will make their own "electionary," or election dictionary, to define some of the key words.

What to Do:

1. Go through the word list together, inviting students to share their impressions of what each election term means.
   
2. Distribute the reproducible (you'll need multiple copies per student) and have students separate the word cards.
   
3. On each word card, have students list one of the election words from the list, along with its definition, part of speech, and an example of the word or phrase in context.
   
4. Invite students to add other election-related words that are new to them.
   
5. Have students put their cards in alphabetical order and staple them together to make an election dictionary.