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Elections

Education World's Great Sites for Teaching About ... page highlights Web sites to help educators work timely themes into their lessons. Internet educator Walter McKenzie selected the ten sites listed below, which are among the best on the Web for teaching about elections.

1. America Votes
   http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/americavotes/
   This is an online collection of memorabilia from past presidential campaigns. Resources date as far back as the Adams-Jefferson race of 1796! Users can find letters, pictures, trading cards, sheet music, posters, buttons, and much more here. For example, take a look at the Clay Gallopade from the 1844 race between Henry Clay and James K. Polk. Perhaps a pamphlet about prohibition from the 1928 campaign between Al Smith and Herbert Hoover will interest you. It's unnerving for those of us who lived through the 1970s and 1980s to see how dated the memorabilia from those campaigns looks!

2. Cast Your Vote
   http://www.learner.org/exhibits/statistics/
   Cast Your Vote (CYV) provides an interactive survey that leads to a simulation and statistics exhibit on the voting process in the United States. Random sampling is defined, explained in depth, and then presented as a simulation in which participants can create a random sample for a fictitious candidate. The applications and vicarious experiences offer an excellent model for middle school students and older of how polling impacts the political process.

3. Democracy Project
   http://www.pbs.org/democracy/
   This fabulous PBS site is designed to involve students in upcoming elections with features such as Check the Record, Read Between the Lines, and Build Your Own Campaign. One link from the site, The Thirty Second Candidate, looks at political advertising in the United States with the intent of nurturing media savvy in today's students, tomorrow's voters. The included teacher materials are first-rate!

4. Election and Inauguration
   http://www.pbs.org/inaugural97/letter.html
   This site was put together for the 1996 elections by a social studies teacher. The features of the site cover both the electoral process and the tradition of the inauguration. This excellent material can easily be adapted for this year's race. Of particular interest to students will be the link on Alexandra Leichtman, who, as a high school senior, attended the inauguration in 1996 and left an archive of material from her experience. In addition, quizzes and lessons spanning the entire history of presidential elections make this site a teacher's delight in an election year!

5. Election Connection
   http://exchange.co-nect.net/Teleprojects/project/Election
   This project for upper elementary through high school students offers kids a chance to examine the elections from the perspective of a candidate, pollster, or voter. The site is well designed and includes educational standards and assessment rubrics to help you target your unit for optimal effectiveness. Site participants will be able to cast their ballots from September 1 through October 22.

6. Kids Voting USA
   http://www.kidsvotingusa.org/
   Kids Voting USA is "a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to securing democracy for the future by involving youth in the election process today." The site contains plenty of helpful materials, including Election Results from 1999, a National Student Panel, a Constitution Test, and information about Campaign 2000. Teacher-support materials and state-level contacts round out the site.

7. Polling Report
   http://www.pollingreport.com/
   The Polling Report is a non-partisan breakdown of current polling statistics. For example, there is a recent poll about issues in the Bush vs. Gore race. The Polling Report doesn't just report the numbers; it avoids putting spin on the poll results and offers thoughtful analysis of the numbers. The Campaign 2000 section provides wonderful material for teachers in secondary schools and above.

8. Voting and Registration Data
   http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/voting.html
   Users can access demographic and socioeconomic data concerning national elections from 1964 to the present. Your students can study results from any presidential race by gender, age, race, religion, education, and occupation. Visitors to the site will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to get the most out of its wealth of resources.

Walter McKenzie
Education World®
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