Who Will Students Elect in 2016?
National Student/Parent Mock Election gives students a voice
Register to vote at http://nationalmockelection.org
Washington, DC – May 1, 2016 – Today the largest civics education project in the United States announced the opening of voter registration. The National Student/Parent Mock Election gives American students, and parents too if they wish, all across the country and around the world, the opportunity to cast their votes for candidates in both the federal and state elections. They may also vote on the issues they care about.
This program builds on the 36-year history of the National Student/Parent Mock Election, the leading program in student voting. More than 50 million young voters have participated while learning about the importance of using their own voice to share their perspectives on important issues. In 2016, national student voting begins on October 24 and culminates on November 3rd, National Mock Election day, 5 days in advance of the nation’s election.
“The National Student/Parent Mock Election is proud to announce a new partnership for 2016,” said Gloria Kirshner, president. ‘Win My Vote’ will be providing online ballots featuring multimedia candidate and ballot issue profiles for the nation’s largest civic education project. Students, parents, teachers and home schoolers will be able to hear directly from each candidate (video) as well as the leading arguments “for” and “against” the ballot issues before casting their vote. The ballots are browser based (no downloaded needed) and can be easily accessible via any internet-enabled device (computers, tablets, smartphones, etc…). The ballots will also provide for real-time voting stats on how the candidates and ballot issues are doing.
Sixty national civic, educational, religious and business organizations serve as cooperating organizations and partners. 2016 partners include: Win My Vote, which will provide all of the ballots for the 50 states, including candidates for the Senate where there is a race, and governorships where there is a race. In addition the Win My Vote ballots will include all the candidates for the 535 congressional seats and the 4 national issues on which students, and parents too if they wish, will vote. In addition, they will be providing the voting engine on which everyone votes.
The Win My Vote website will be a very important resource for the millions of young voters who participate in the National Student/Parent Mock Election.
The election of 2016 will be one of the most important elections in American history.
Other partners include American Association of School Administrators, Barquin International, BrainPOP, Council of the Great City Schools, Don’t Forget Ed, National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Association of Secretaries of State, National Association of Student Councils, National Council for the Social Studies, National School Boards Association, NIE Institute, Rand McNally and USA Today.
Teachers and home schoolers are encouraged to use the free materials and curriculum developed for the program to create thoughtful lessons leading up to and around the upcoming election of the president, U.S. senators and state governors where there is a race, U.S. representatives and national issues.
“Our goal is to help our country’s young people from kindergarten to college levels, understand what ‘government of the people, by the people, and for the people’ really means,” said National Student/Parent Mock Election President Gloria Kirshner. “It is never too early to start empowering our future leaders to be involved and share their informed opinions about the issues that matter most.”
The National Student/Parent Mock Election was co-founded by Edward Stanley and Gloria Kirshner in 1980. After three decades it still stands as the world’s largest national mock election. Over the years partners have included American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., CNN, ABC, Electronic Data Systems (now HP Enterprise Services), The New York Times, TIME Magazine, and others, all collaborating to help millions of students learn about our nation’s electoral process and the meaning of democracy.
For more information and to register to vote, go to www.nationalmockelection.org. There is never any charge. You may register entire school districts.
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About the National Student/Parent Mock Election
The National Student/Parent Mock Election, the country’s largest civic education project, which reached more than 5 million students and their parents in all 50 states and American schools all around the world in 2012, is built on more than a half-century of teaching experience. The project will engage students, parents, and educators all year long. The polls will open everywhere on October 24th, 2016.
