Voting Worksheets for Teens: Registering, Voting and Your Rights

What is included

• •The six-step registration chain with a photograph per step, from checking that you can vote to making a voting plan
• •The seven-step polling-place chain with a photograph per step and the If Something Goes Wrong box of three answers
• •The rights card for voters with disabilities, six rights in plain words
• •A typeset sample ballot to practice reading contests and filling in the oval, with neutral placeholder names and questions
• •Three ways-to-vote cards, in person, early where the state offers it, and by mail, each saying where the rules differ by state
• •Six other ways to take part in the community, neutral by design, and a fill-in voting plan card
• •Seven check questions, thirteen vocabulary words and an answer key
• •Teacher notes on state rules, pre-registration and guardianship, three levels, a data sheet and two scoreable IEP goals
• •US Letter and A4 print files, everything single-sided

Questions from teachers

Does this pack tell students who or what to vote for?

No. This pack is factual and non-partisan. It teaches the process of voting. It never names or favors a candidate, party, or position, and the examples on the take-part page use school and neighborhood topics like a crosswalk, a bus stop or a park rather than a real issue. The photographs show no campaign signs, party colors, logos or real ballots; any ballot in frame is a blank sample.

Voting rules differ by state. How does a national pack handle that?

By teaching the steps that are the same everywhere and sending the student to their election office for every rule that is not. Deadlines, ID, same-day registration, mail ballots and early voting all vary, so each of those steps says so plainly instead of stating one state's rule as if it were everyone's. The teacher notes ask you to look up your own state's rules before teaching the registration page, and there is a note for North Dakota, which does not have voter registration.

What about a student who has a guardian?

The pack neither promises nor denies the right to vote, because no printed page can know a student's state or court order. Most voters with disabilities have the same right to vote as anyone else. In some states a court order in a guardianship case can affect a person's right to vote, and many states do not remove that right. The student page tells them that having a disability does not stop them from voting and to ask their election office, bringing a guardian or teacher if they like. The teacher note asks you to help the student and family contact the election office and read the court order.

What rights for voters with disabilities does it teach?

The rights card lists six in plain words: you can bring someone to help you vote, a person you choose who is not your boss or someone from your union; every polling place has a voting machine made for people with disabilities, and poll workers can show you how it works; you can ask to sit down if the line is long; you can bring your service animal; and if you cannot get into the building or need help, you can ask a poll worker or call your election office before election day.

Can a 16- or 17-year-old use it?

Yes. You must be 18 on or before election day to vote, but many states let students sign up at 16 or 17 so they are ready to vote at 18. The teacher notes say so, and the first registration step teaches both checks a student makes before registering: being a U.S. citizen and being 18 by election day.

Does it print this year's election dates?

No, on purpose. A printed date would make the pack wrong after one election, so the last registration step teaches making a voting plan (the day, the way you will vote, and how you will get there) and the plan card has a line to write the date in. Nothing in the pack needs reprinting next year.