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For Teachers

How Kids Voting Minneapolis Works

Since 2004, thousands of Minneapolis students between the ages of 5 and 18 have cast their ballots in city, state and Presidential elections. With their votes, students have put into practice some of the important lessons learned through Kids Voting Minneapolis, a nonpartisan civic leadership program.

The opportunity to empower Minneapolis youth with the skills and confidence to become active citizens as adults is the motivation behind Kids Voting because we know that civic-minded individuals have the power to build strong communities and create positive change.

Kids Voting Minneapolis partners with schools and election officials to provide K-12 students with civic learning opportunities. It is the combination of classroom instruction, family dialogue and an authentic voting experience that makes Kids Voting a powerful strategy for achieving long-term change in voting behavior.

Kids Voting provides, at no cost, civics lessons and activities to help students discover the value and power of the voting process and to develop skills and traits conducive to wise democratic living. Teachers are critical to the success of the Kids Voting program as they are the means by which students are exposed to these important lessons.

After classroom preparation, students are welcomed into the polls on Election Day, along with their parents, to cast their votes on a Kids Voting ballot similar to the adult ballot. The results of the Kids Voting election are released to the public the following day on this website. This "real-life" voting experience dispels the mysteries of the voting process and reinforces the knowledge and skills gained through Kids Voting classroom activities.

Kids Voting Minneapolis is comprised of a board of directors, executive director, and volunteer coordinator, working together to raise funds and recruit the hundreds of volunteers necessary to bring this program to Minneapolis.

Accessing Kids Voting lessons and activities

Kids Voting classroom lessons and activities are provided online at Kids Voting USA (the parent organization to all Kids Voting affiliates across the nation.) You'll have to complete a short registration to gain online access to the classroom activities.

You can also obtain the classroom activities, free of charge, on CD or as a hardcopy, by sending an e-mail request to Kids Voting Minneapolis executive director Roberta Worrell.

The ideas, goals, and methods on which the classroom lessons based

The philosophical basis of the Kids Voting activities is to train students to live as thoughtful, active citizens in a democracy.

The goals are to:

• Cultivate information-gathering and decision-making skills
• Develop higher-order thinking skills
• Develop empathy toward others
• Gain a knowledge and appreciation of suffrage, democracy, citizenship, and elections
• Understand and participate in the direct voting process

The activities are designed to emphasize self-discovery in a cooperative setting. This is effective because:

• Students master and retain knowledge and concepts better and develop problem-solving skills, creativity, verbal skills, and empathy – all of which are important qualities for voters to possess
• Group problem-solving provides a model of democracy

Click here for an overview of the scope and sequence of Kids Voting lessons.

Using the activities

Every class and year is different so use the indexes and tools in the online guide to individualize the experience for your students.

Some suggestions:

• In national election years, do one activity per week beginning the first week of school in order to finish close to Election Day.
• Count five to ten weeks back from a coming local election and complete one activity per week
• Choose several activities and conduct as many as you wish two to three weeks before an election
• Read through the activities for ideas and adapt or create activities that are just right for your students

Tell us what you think!

We want to hear from teachers. Please send us your ideas, photographs, success stories, challenges, concerns and comments to Roberta Worrell, executive director.