KidsVoting in Minnesota

Developing Engages Citizens

The signers of the Declaration of Independence pledged "our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor" to defend the right to government by the "consent of the Governed," yet today 50% of our young people grow up in non-voting households:

THEY LEARN NOT TO VOTE !

H The solution: Get kids informed and in the voting habit while they are still in their habit forming age. Empower the kids to teach their parents.

Among the myriad of voter education and voter registration programs,

Kids Voting Minnesota is the only program that gets the kids and their parents into the polls on Election Day.

Kids Voting Minnesota – recipient of the 2002 National Association of Secretaries of State Silver Medallion Award for promoting whole family voting.

In the Community

  1. Community leaders from the chambers of commerce, service groups, fraternal organizations, school parent groups, city government, and veterans come together to form a Kids Voting Steering Committee.
  2. Scores of volunteers are organized to run the program and equip precinct polling places with materials and election judges.
  3. Ballots are prepared reflecting local, state, and national concerns.
  4. Plans are made for the tabulation of ballots and reporting of results to the media

In the Schools

  1. Kids Voting Minnesota provides a K-12, exciting, hands-on curriculum about the basics of voting, democracy, and the foundational principles upon which democracy is built.
  2. We provide a teacher in-service to lead teachers and help organize the process
  3. Students in each grade are taught 4-8 lessons on voting and democracy.
  4. High school students can partially fulfill US Citizenship requirements by becoming Jr. Election Judges through a Kids Voting partnership with the Secretary of State.

On Election Day

The program’s climax is at the polling place.

  1. Students drag mom and dad to their precinct polling place and vote for the same candidates as the adults.
  2. Kids vote on Kids Voting ballots while mom and dad vote in the "real" election.
  3. The results are tabulated and then reported in the local media.
  4. Voting is no longer an adult only activity, but something in which the entire family can participate .
  5. Everyone in the community becomes an informed voter.
  6. Voter turnout increases an average 6% in Kids Voting areas. People who haven’t voted for years come to vote when their children bring them to the polls. Eighteen year-old vote increases by 10% after a few years

In 2002, over 40,000 students voted in 34 school districts in Minnesota. Kids Voting Minnesota generated over fifty news articles around the state as well as radio and television coverage.

History:

1988 - three Arizona businessmen go to Costa Rica on a fishing trip. While there, they learn voter turnout is routinely between 80 and 90 percent in Costa Rica - attributed to a tradition of children going to the polls with their parents. The three return to Arizona and launch a highly successful Kids Voting pilot program in 1988 fashioned after the Costa Rican tradition.

1994 - Kids Voting begins to move across the country and the Minnesota project is launched in Duluth through the support of Minnesota Power and the Northland Foundation, involving over 13,000 students, K-12.

1996 - Kids Voting Minnesota expands regionally for the November election. This includes nine new communities and over 30,000 students. Kids Voting is now in Brainerd, Cotton, Duluth, Esko, Hermantown, Mt. Iron, Osakis, Proctor, Remer, and Virginia.

1998 -Two more communities are added (Cloquet and Alexandria), 32,000 students are involved. Kids Voting Minnesota attempts to sponsor a first: a student run statewide gubernatorial debate at the Mall of America. Due to the political climate, it gets canceled.

1999 -Kids Voting Minnesota hosts a youth oriented inaugural forum for Independent Party victor Jesse Ventura at the Mall of America. Students from 20 school districts dialogued with the new governor for 45 minutes. Kids Voting Minnesota begins to implement plans for expansion into the Twin Cities. A new Kids Voting Minnesota program is initiated in Prior Lake School District. Kids Voting Minnesota wins national recognition of its program in Virginia, MN where 71% of the students voted and 78% of the adults voted in the 1998 elections.

2000- Minnesota Vikings Dennis Green and Mitch Berger team up with Governor Jesse Ventura to tape a new PSA "adding muscle to Minnesota democracy." Governor Jesse Ventura, Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman, and St. Paul School Superintendent Patricia Harvey join 500 kids in a Kids Voting Kickoff Rally on the steps of the state capitol. Over 108,000 students in 15 school districts are taught Kids Voting lessons through the efforts of 3500 teachers. Almost 2000 volunteers helped staff 316 polling places on Election Day.

2001- The Blandin Foundation awards Kids Voting Minnesota a $90,000, three year grant to target rural Minnesota communities. A partnership is formed with the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office to get 16 and 17 year old students involved in elections.

2002- New programs are added in 19 school districts, bringing the total to 34 districts and 159,000 students (almost 1/4 of the MN student population). More than 5,000 teachers instruct the students in the fundamentals of being informed citizens. Over 3200 volunteers serve as election judges in 642 polling places. Kids Voting Minnesota/St. Cloud hosts a gubernatorial candidate debate. The candidates respond to thoughtful questions from students as young as six years old in front of an audience of over 600. Twin Cities news media covers the event. Kids Voting Minnesota brings the Minnesota Secretary of State candidates to Thief River Falls for a debate. All four candidates respond to questions from students in a rally held at Lincoln High School. Students from 15 different schools take part in this forum. This is the first time an event like this has taken place in rural northwest Minnesota.

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