Voting and Civics

Election day this year is Tuesday, November 7th and is a day designated by law for the election of public officials. Voting is a way for U.S. citizens to participate in the democratic process and to elect leaders that represent them and their interests. While most students are not of age to vote yet, it can be a good time to learn about civics and voting, and to reflect on the importance of this constitutional right.

• Learn about the history of voting rights in the U.S. by watching this complete video book reading for Equality's Call: The Story of Voting Rights in America.

• Find titles about civic engagement and voting to promote for readers of all ages in these curated booklists:

  • Life, Liberty + Libraries Children's Book List, Young Adult Book List, and Spanish Book List](/tb.cgi?lid=8878) from Florida Humanities and PBS Books
  • We the People: Graphic Novels That Center Democracy, Voting Rights, and Political Activism
  • Voting Rights Books from School Library Journal
  • KidCitizen Engagement: Books about Community, Conflict Resolution and Voting from the CCBC.

• Share these printable suffragist trading cards from Finish the Fight!: The Brave and Revolutionary Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote with your students. Each student can take a few cards, learn about each figure through the facts on the back of the card, then introduce them to their classmates.
  

• Play this printable voting game that accompanies Finish the Fight!: The Brave and Revolutionary Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote. All you need is one die and something to use for tokens (coins, beans, little bits of paper, etc.).

• Encourage your students to reflect on issues that are important to them and then have them practice writing letters to their representatives with these letter writing kits: The elementary letter writing activity from Sofia Valdez, Future Prez, and the secondary Letter Writing Kit from March.

• Discover discussion questions and ideas to research in this discussion guide for Lifting as We Climb: Black Women's Battle for the Ballot Box.

• Listen to author Gretchen Woelfle talk about Jeannette Rankin, the subject of her book A Take-Charge Girl Blazes a Trail to Congress in this Meet-the-Author Recording to kick off student research on historical political pioneers.

• Help students think and learn about voting by sharing this voting plan and “Know your rights” sheet found in this discussion guide for The Walk.