This lesson supports young people as they design, create, and implement their own voter preregistration campaigns. Students will consider some reflection questions, learn more about voting as they consider what to include in their campaigns, study examples of past voter registration campaigns, and apply what they’ve learned to create campaigns that engage current and future voters to participate in the democratic process. First, help students reflect on the role of voting in the democratic process, using questions that connect to their prior knowledge about voting. Then, through the series of worksheets that follow, have students learn relevant vocabulary, analyze challenges voters face today, examine past successful voting campaigns, and create their new campaigns. After students launch their campaigns, consider creating a way for the class to track their success as a group.

Every election year and for years after elections, there are several major issues that persistently trouble Americans. Every election year, politicians pledge that they will address these issues, and nearly every year they fall short of many peoples’ expectations. This time may be different, but it will take an educated voting population to explain to politicians exactly what they want done to address the issues. In this lesson, we begin that process by examining problems surrounding health care costs, funding higher education, and preserving social security. Then, students look at how the current presidential candidates are proposing to address these issues, and formulate a short media presentation using Flipgrid (https://info.flipgrid.com/) or some other media presentation tool to endorse one candidate.

The original Constitution did not specifically protect the right to vote—leaving the issue largely to the states. For much of American history, this right has often been granted to some, but denied to others; however, through a series of amendments to the Constitution, the right to vote has expanded over time. These amendments have protected the voting rights of new groups, including by banning discrimination at the ballot box based on race (15th Amendment) and sex (19th Amendment). They also granted Congress new power to enforce these constitutional guarantees, which Congress has used to pass landmark statutes like the Voting Rights Act of 1965. While state governments continue to play a central role in elections today, these new amendments carved out a new—and important—role for the national government in this important area.

In this documentary, Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Stephen G. Breyer and other experts discuss how the principle of one person, one vote emerged from a series of landmark decisions, including Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Sims, based on the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. A PDF lesson guide accompanies the video.

This site offers teaching activities, four political cartoons, and a narrative about reforms proposed by three major presidential candidates in 1912: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson.

Students will watch two short films to review political protest movements and envision running for office themselves.

Students identify and interpret political images, discuss how they were created and explain the influence of images on the public’s perception of politicians.

This activity requires a free registration for Newseum ED educator resources.

This course will examine public opinion and assess its place in the American political system. The course will emphasize both how citizens' thinking about politics is shaped and the role of public opinion in political campaigns, elections, and government.

A letter about the importance of voter registation of African American voters in the upcoming election from 1957. 

This bell ringer explores ranked choice voting and how it can be used as a tool to reduce political polarization.

The United States conducts a constitutionally mandated census every 10 years. This count has numerous effects, and one of the most important is its impact on our representative democracy. Reapportionment and redistricting, in turn, affect how and by whom the people are represented.

This series of classroom activities were written to support educators who use the 2022 video series "Elections 101" from the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC).

"The Right ID for Me" helps students answer the question "What forms of ID are acceptable for voting in Wisconsin, and how can they be obtained?". Teachers will use two of the videos from the WEC ("Elections Overview" and "Election Security") to research the requirements for the forms that can be used as acceptable ID to vote in Wisconsin.

During an election, civic energy reaches a fever pitch. The vote is one of the citizen’s most powerful tools, and advocating for a candidate, a set of ideas, or a platform is the right of every citizen. The President of the United States is often called the most powerful person in the world, so with every presidential election, the stakes are high. This unit is designed to teach students about presidential elections. It is not a collection of facts, diagrams, and explanations of processes. It is an interactive, project-based unit that invites the student to fully engage in the process of an election while also informing students about how elections work. It is our hope that this unit helps cultivate the sorts of informed and engaged citizens that are so essential to our democracy.

This series of classroom activities were written to support educators who use the 2022 video series "Elections 101" from the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC).

"Should We Lower the Voting Age?" helps students answer the question "Should the U.S. lower the voting age?". Teachers will use the videos "Elections Overview" and "Nuts and Bolts" from the WEC as a starting point to build a Socratic Seminar from their own research on the topic.

This course provides an introduction to the vast literature devoted to public opinion. In the next 12 weeks, we will survey the major theoretical approaches and empirical research in the field of political behavior (though we will only tangentially discuss political participation and voting). For the most part we will focus on American public opinion, though some of the work we will read is comparative in nature.

This unit provides an introduction to Student Voices, focusing on the question of why so few
young people vote and why there is a need for young people to learn more about the political
process, issues, and candidates.

Spanish Version
https://cdn.annenbergclassroom.org/wp-content/uploads/Campaign-Curriculum_Spanish.pdf

This brief lesson and collection of primary sources look at the arrest of Susan B. Anthony following her casting her ballot in the 1872 Presidential election in her hometown of Rochester, New York. Documents include U.S vs. Susan B. Anthony, Indictment for Illegal Voting; U.S. vs. Susan B. Anthony, Exhibit B, a transcript of the hearing including examination of witnesses by the defense and prosecution attorneys, and Susan B. Anthony s testimony in her own defense; and U.S. vs. Susan B. Anthony, Record of Conviction. It also offers extension activities and links to additional primary sources.

This site focuses on the complex system of election rules by examining the vote tally of the 1824 Presidential election, in which the winning candidate, John Quincy Adams, received fewer popular votes than the runner-up, Andrew Jackson.

In this game, students will play a voting simulation where they learn the importance of getting to know the candidates, their qualifications, experience, and what they stand for. The students will also be able to identify the issues that are most important to them and then evaluate the candidates on their stance on these issues. Multiple information sources are used to inform students about elections and candidates to make this a realistic simulation.

Instructor Notes: Teachers can assign this content to their students in iCivics account and then Clicking the Assign button on this activity. Teachers will then have the option to add a Class into iCivics OR Sync a roster from Google Classroom. This will allow teachers to see student's responses.

This simulation game also comes with teaching materials and an extension pack which allows additional teaching and learning opportunities beyond the game.