Kids Voting USA (KVUSA)

As part of the civic education programme, students learn about democracy through a combination of classroom activities, an authentic (online and traditional) voting experience, and family dialogue. It is premised on the belief that educators and parents can play an important role in shaping and stimulating the exercise of informed, involved citizenship at a very early age, and that this strategy can instill long-term impacts in terms of bolstering political participation.

KVUSA classroom civics activities introduce students to the concepts of citizenship in the earliest grades and continue throughout their school years. Designed for use across grade levels and across subjects, the activities model democratic practice through cooperative learning structures, group problem-solving, and active student-centred experiences. The emphasis is on information gathering and critical decision-making. In addition, students learn collaboration skills as well as respect for differing points of view.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are used to enhance this learning; a dedicated (password-protected) portion of the KVUSA website offers access to the activities online.

Parental/family involvement is key to the process, as the classroom activities are structured to extend the learning to home discussion of political issues. (A bilingual (English-Spanish) Family Guide/Guía Familiar [PDF] is meant to foster this interaction through fun activities). Further, after classroom preparation, students take part in a voting experience using a ballot that mirrors that of the adults' with the same candidates and issues. This "real life" practice is designed to dispel the mysteries of the voting process and to reinforce the knowledge and skills gained through the classroom activities. Traditionally, students go to official polling sites to cast a Kids Voting ballot - right alongside their parents or other adults. Some students instead vote by mail, or online through "DoubleClick Democracy". The latter uses a web-based voting system in which online ballots replicate the races and issues that are on the adult ballot for each electoral district. The ballots include links to candidate biographies and other resources. In 2004, 1.5 million KVUSA students cast a ballot at the official polls or with the online voting system.

Democracy and Governance, Education, Children, Youth.

Organisers point out that Costa Rica's voter turnout is typically around 90%; this high turnout has been attributed to a tradition of children accompanying their parents to the polls. KVUSA draws on this observation, and extends it through a link to education.