Kids Voting USA Superstition Office Plaza 3933 South McClintook Drive Suite 505, Tempe, Arizona 85281  (602) 921-3727 e-mail: kidsvotingusa@kidsvotingusa.org website: www. kidsvotingusa.org

Overview of Kids Voting In Tiffin Area

What 
Kids Voting USA (KVUSA) is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that is working to secure the future of democracy by preparing young people to be educated, engaged voters. The program is unique because it combines civic learning in the classroom with an authentic voting experience that reflects the adult process.

Classroom Activities 
The KVUSA civic learning classroom activities help students develop critical thinking, information gathering and decision making skills. Many of the activities incorporate reading, writing and math. The scope of the materials enables use throughout the school year. In addition to the traditional KVUSA voting and elections activities, there also are activities related to the right to vote, democracy, and active citizenship (how to participate in our democracy outside of the voting booth). 

Voting Experience 
2005 – 150,000 students voted on local races and issues. 
2004 - 1.5 million students cast a ballot at the official polls or with a new online voting system.
2003 – 150,000 students in 147 communities voted in local elections. 
2002 – 800,000+ students cast ballots in the mid-term elections. 

Participation 2006
Nearly 4 million students have the opportunity to participate in KVUSA classroom activities. 
Teachers in 475 school districts are helping students learn core civic skills and values. 
52 affiliates reaching 215 counties bring the KVUSA program to communities nationwide. 

The KVUSA Story
On a fishing trip to Costa Rica, three Arizona businessmen discovered the voter turnout in the country was about 90 percent and was attributed to a tradition of children going with their parents to the polls. The men were intrigued by the idea, but also recognized a missing link to education. They launched a school-based pilot project in a Phoenix suburb that has since grown into the national organization. 

KVUSA Leadership
Terry Pickeral, Chairman 
Executive Director, National Center for Learning & Citizenship 
Christopher E. Heller, President & CEO
 

KVUSA Sponsors The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation U.S. Department of Education  State Farm Insurance Companies  New Profit Inc.  Omidyar Network  Accenture eDemocracy Services  Corporation for National & Community Service DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund

Partners  Arizona State University, Fulton School of      Engineering  Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools Commission on Presidential Debates Discovery Education  Do Something  National Association of Secretaries of State Public Agenda  Smackdown Your Vote!

Project Vote Smart: Project Vote Smart, a non-partisan, non-profit organization founded by national leaders including former senators Barry Goldwater, George McGovern, Bill Bradley, Mark Hatfield and over 40,000 other Americans, researches, collects vast amounts of factual information about candidates, elected officials and the political process, and provides the information free of charge to citizens across the country.

• Vote Smart Web: Project Vote Smart can be accessed through the Internet. The Projects entire database on candidates and elected officials, as well as links to a wealth of other information on government and politics appear at this site. http://www.vote-smart.org

 
• Vote Smart Web Yellow Pages is a printed guide that provides Web addresses for gathering information on the federal government, political parties, state information, think tanks, statistics and research, and more. Vote Smart is willing to provide each school library with a guide. Ask your school media specialist to call the Voters Research Hotline at 1-800-622-SMAR(T) to request a copy.

The Smithsonian The Smithsonian contains information on the many museums, galleries, and research centers.http://www.si.edu

Presidential Inaugural Addresses The inaugural addresses from George Washington to George Bush are available at this site. It also has the text to the Executive Oath of Office.http://www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/inaugural/index.html

Political Party Information

The Democratic National Committee This site provides general background about the DNC, as well as other information relating to the Democratic party. http://www.democrats.org/

The Republican National Committee This site contains party news, press releases, on-line journals, and a list of local Republican offices. http://www.rnc.org

The Libertarian Party This site provides general information about the Libertarian party, as well as membership information and past party platforms. http://www.lp.org

Yahoo’s List of Parties and Groups This site links to a wide-ranging list of parties and groups, including political parties around the world. http://www.yahoo.com/Government/Politics/Parties

The change in the system of voting to an Optical Scan Digital Read out System, alters the student voting process at the polls. If students feed their ballot into the Optical Scan equipment their vote will count as part of the general electorate. To keep the voting component, the 2006 project at each participating school, students of all grades will vote at their own school and votes will be tabulated per school. This e-voting system was used in 2005 in the Columbus area and resulted in an increase of voting participation by 70%.

• Kids Voting has a grade level-specific curriculum which focuses on enabling students to acquire information and make critical decisions related to democratic principles of government. 
• Students study issues and the candidates. 
• Students celebrate democracy. 
• Students vote on-line at their school on election day assisted by volunteers. 
• Kids Voting election results are tabulated and conveyed to the media and the students.

• Nationally, 1.5 million students, grade K-12 participated in November 2004 to vote for president, local and state candidates and to make their voices heard on important issues.
• Locally, Tiffin Public and Parochial Schools introduced their students to the Kids Voting Curriculum in 1996. Students in Bettsville and New Riegel joined Tiffin students in the Kids Voting Program for the 1998 election. Student at Hopewell Loudon School joined the Kids Voting Program for the 2001 election.
• The number of Seneca County students served in the November 2006 election will be 5,200.

• Dues to Kids Voting USA
• Costs of classroom curriculum and other student materials
• Training costs for involved school staff
• Voting supplies for student use
• Cost of the on-line business survey site to develop our ballot and tabulate our results.