Grades 7-9
How the Law Regulates Who May Vote

Objectives

During your session, students will

• List the constitutional guidelines that states must follow when deciding who may vote.
• Identify typical state guidelines about who may and may not vote in elections.

Time needed: One class period to do exercise through step 3 or 4; two periods to do it all.

Materials Needed: Student Handouts 1 (.pdf) & 2 (.pdf)

Procedures

1. Explain to students that voting is one way people make choices and express their wishes. Write the following sentence on the board: "It is important to vote because ..." Ask students to complete the sentence. Discuss responses with the class.
   
2. Distribute Handout 1, "Who Votes for Student Council President?". Tell students to read each scenario and then circle the answer that indicates whether or not they would let that person vote in the school election.
   
3. Post the signs YES and NO at opposite ends of the classroom. Now read each scenario from Handout 1 aloud. Ask students to stand under the sign with the answer they circled. Then ask them to explain their positions. use the following questions to clarify students' positions.

Shanika attends your school. She is a B student and wants to vote.

Why does it matter that Shanika makes good grades?
Would you let Shanika vote if she were failing every subject?

Sean attends another high school, but he knows someone running for president and wants to vote.

Does the president represent the people who vote for him or her?
What does that mean?

May the president of one school represent students in another school?

Elizabeth attends your school. She is really different: her hair is green. Elizabeth wants to vote.

Would it matter if Elizabeth were (name a race other than those of the students)? Was it fair?

Years ago, African Americans and women were not allowed to vote. What do you think were the reasons given for this? Was it fair?

Today is Peter's first day at this school. He hasn't met anyone and doesn't know who is running in the election. Peter wants to vote.

Does it matter that he does not know the people he's voting for?

Do you think people vote in elections without knowing who they're voting for?

How can Peter learn about people running for office?

Margaret attends your school. She is blind and can't see the ballot, but she wants to vote.

How are you going to let her know who is running for office? If you had someone to vote for her, how will you make sure that person voted the way Margaret wanted to?

Louis attends your school. He can't read, but he wants to vote.

Do you think that Louis is still able to make a wise decision for president?

What is the difference between Louis and Margaret?

Do you think that people who vote in elections should be required to know how to read? Explain that literacy tests were once used in some Southern states to discriminate against African Americans.

Kim attends your school but is at home sick. Kim won't be well before the election, but she wants to vote.

If you let her vote, how will you get her vote?

Would it matter if she missed the whole school year?

Jon attends your school, but he has been suspended. He wants to vote.

Does the reason Jon was suspended matter?

Joby has just returned to your school from the State Training School for Boys, where he spent one year for armed robbery. He wants to vote.

Does the fact that he committed a violent offense matter?

Does it make any difference that he was charged in the juvenile system, not the adult system?

4. If time permits, or if you want to extend this into another class period, have groups of no more than four students work together to write rules that explain the qualifications for voting in the school elections. If students have difficulty getting started on their rules, give them the following open-ended sentence:

Before a person may vote in the school election, the person must ... Have a volunteer from each group record the rules on chart paper. Ask each group to share its list with the other groups.

5. Brainstorm with students a list of people they think should not be allowed to vote in elections.
   
   
6. Distribute Handout 2, "Constitutional Guidelines for Voting" and discuss the information on it. You may wish to discuss with students the following information.

   Each state sets voter qualifications, but because of guidelines set by the U.S. Constitution and decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, these laws are similar. Each state requires voters to live within that state before they may vote. Some states require voters to live there 30 days, while others only require voters to prove they live in the state.

   All states require that you be a citizen of the United States before you may vote. You are a citizen if you were born in the United States or if you were made a citizen by law.

   All states allow people with disabilities to vote. The law says that polls must be usable by everyone. If the poll cannot be used by a person with a disability, the state must find another way for that person to vote. Most states have absentee ballots and curbside voting for people with disabilities.

   Every state denies the vote to certain people. No state allows people in mental hospitals or people who the law says are mentally unfit to vote. Nearly all states deny the vote to persons who have been convicted of a felony (this does not apply to persons treated in the juvenile system). Some states also deny the vote to persons who have been dishonorably discharged from military service.

Adapted from an article by Mary C. Larkin, associate director of the National Institute for Citizen Education in the Law (NICEL) in Washington, D.C. The article first appeared in Update on Law-Related Education, published by the American Bar Association.