Voting for Great Futures Teaches Civic Responsibility
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Empowering young voices is a must, and the Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence made their presence known at the polls on Tuesday. The Voting for Great Futures – Kansas Kids Vote initiative gave every student at the Center for Great Futures and in the USD 497 elementary schools the opportunity to vote.
A Kids Vote polling site was set up at every elementary school for students to cast their vote in the Kansas Governor and U.S. House of Representatives – 2nd District elections. The elementary school polls opened before school was dismissed to ensure that kids who do not attend the Boys & Girls Club still had the opportunity to vote.
Club members from the middle and high schools voted at the Don & Beverly Gardner Center for Great Futures. They also cast their vote in their own election, selecting teen council representatives in grades sixth, seventh, eighth and high school.
“One of our three priority outcomes is good character and citizenship,” said CEO Colby Wilson. “Part of that responsibility is to educate our Club kids on the importance of exercising their right to vote. It is our goal that that these experiences translate into kids becoming responsible, informed voters.”
For weeks leading up to Election Day, BGCLK staff instructed various voting lessons. Grade-level activities were organized by four themes: elections and voting, democracy and the people, informed citizen and civic engagement/service learning. Each theme contains a general introduction, overarching questions, a literature connection activity and culminating activity. The primary focus is to learn the concepts. Persuading children to vote for a certain candidate or political party is strictly prohibited.
Lawrence was one of six pilot sites across the state for Kids Voting when it was introduced in 1992. The Lawrence Journal-World was the initial business partner of the program. From 1992-2012, the program was run by a dedicated committee – led by former teacher Ruthi Rapp – with support from businesses and community members who worked to provide students with an authentic voting experience. Originally, they opened Kids Voting polling sites at the same locations as the county’s official locations. For student voting, the sites were only open before and after school as it was hoped that families would share the voting experience together.
When Kids Voting Kansas no longer had funding to provide the curriculum and materials, the committee approached the Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence to assist in continuing the important program. Thus, Voting for Great Futures – Kansas Kids Vote was born.
Boys & Girls Club recruits nearly 60 volunteers to run the “polling locations” at all 15 Club sites across Lawrence. Peaslee Tech served as the Voting for Great Futures ballot counting headquarters. Lawrence High School supplied the ballot counting volunteers, comprised of juniors from Fran Bartlett’s U.S. Government class as well as seniors from Chris Johnson and Jackie Hood’s government classes.
Voting for Great Futures – Kansas Kids Vote 2018 Results
The results of the Voting for Great Futures – Kansas Kids Vote 2018 are as follows. Student voting from 12 of 14 USD 497 elementary school polling sites, four middle schools and two high schools are included.
Governor and Lieutenant Governor
Laura Kelly/Lynn Rogers: 950 votes
Kris Kobach/Wink Hartman: 348 votes
Greg Orman/John Doll: 142 votes
Rick Kloos/Nathaniel Kloos: 91 votes
Jeff Caldwell/Mary Gerlt: 154 votes
United States House of Representatives – Second District
Paul Davis: 768 votes
Steve Watkins: 555 votes
Kelly Standley: 283 votes
Secretary of State
Rob Hodgkinson: 141 votes
Brian “BAM” McClendon: 404 votes
Scott Schwab: 194
State Treasurer
Marci Francisco: 438 votes
Jake LaTurner: 319 votes
Attorney General
Sarah G. Swain: 484 votes
Derek Schmidt: 245 votes