We just got some exciting news from the other Washington (D.C.): We are one of 14 organizations to receive grants from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to support mock elections and educate students about voting.

 The EAC announced this week that it has awarded $40,000 to the Office of Secretary of State to provide schools with opportunities to participate in “online voting,” election-related educational activities, and two televised segments co-sponsored by TVW, Washington’s public affairs broadcast network. The segments will feature interviews with students and teachers, and a forum where student audience members engage with panelists on national, state and local issues.

The Office of Secretary has sponsored a Mock Election for Washington’s K-12 students since 2004. It’s a nonpartisan way to teach students about voting and promote civic awareness in classrooms.  Washington’s Mock Election is held annually the week before the November General Election. Students “vote” on federal and statewide candidates and ballot measures.  In the 2008 General Election, a record-breaking 18,000 students “voted.”  In 2009, it attracted 5,300 students. To view the results of last year’s Mock Election, visit www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/mock.

Among the Mock Election planners’ goals this year are expanding the network of participating schools and adding countywide candidates and measures to students’ ballots. The planners intend to use the 40K grant to hire professional educators to improve the Mock Election curriculum. The goal is to make this curriculum easy to use, informative and fun, and to fulfill Washington’s requirements for civic education instruction. 

“Improving our curriculum will encourage teachers to incorporate the Mock Election into their classroom discussions.  We will also provide schools with posters promoting the Mock Election, and ‘I Voted’ stickers for students who participate,” said Lindsay Pryor, who coordinates the Mock Election for the Elections Division.