Kids learn to take part in democracy

By Kayla Gahagan, Journal staff | Sunday, November 02, 2008

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Abbigayle Maciejewski said she knew who she was going to vote for in the presidential election this year before she ever went to vote last week.

"It was really easy," she said.

And when she turns 18, she said she knows she'll do it again.

For now, Maciejewski, a sixth-grade Dakota Middle School student, is one of about 80,000 South Dakota students taking part in mock elections this year, said DeVee Dietz, state director of Kids Voting South Dakota. More than 70 school districts in the state this year are taking part in the program this year.

"It's a thrill to have so many students and school districts implementing the program," Dietz said.

Some of the students will participate by visiting a polling location while other students will vote in the classroom. They have had two weeks to vote, and the final day will be Tuesday. The votes will be counted by the Chiesman Foundation in Rapid City and will be published in the Journal.

Schools in Rapid City and Sioux Falls are piloting an online voting system this year, said Dakota Middle School counselor Sherri Horan.

On Monday, South Canyon Elementary will have an 8:30 a.m. assembly, featuring Dietz and two area legislative candidates, Craig Tieszen and David Lust. Students will then vote from 9:15 a.m. to 11 a.m., said coordinator Tara Boechler.

Kids Voting was originally started because a high percentage of adults who voted in mock elections when they were students made it to the polls when they were grown.

Licia Penticoff, a sixth-grade teacher at Dakota, said the program is "absolutely wonderful."

"It gives them the opportunity to see how democracy works and what we adults are looking at on the ballot," she said.

The students vote on the presidents and the state legislatives races and the candidates' faces appear alongside their names.

"I'm curious to see with that age group -- what the vote is going to be," Penticoff said.

Horan said part of the goal of the mock election and the class time leading up to it is to learn about the process, and not just the candidates.

"We're staying away from issues and candidates," she said.

Horan said they remind the students to seek reliable sources when learning about candidates. The students were encouraged to watch the presidential debates and pay attention to news coverage so they could make informed decisions when voting.

Some local schools did mock elections, but not with Kids Voting.

Douglas High School participated in a mock election through the Youth Leadership Initiative.

Freeman said Douglas High School has participated in YLI activities before, but this is the first year the students have done a mock election, which was organized at the school by the Advanced Placement government class.

"The kids are very passionate about the whole thing," said Rosetter Freeman, head of the social studies department at Douglas. "History shows that students usually vote the way their parents do. As we are preparing them for the 21st century, we want them to think on their own."

The bottomline, she said, is that kids see that casting a vote is having a say in things.

"It's telling them, 'You have to get involved if you want to make a difference,'" she said. "They're trying to get students to think outside of the box."

Contact Kayla Gahagan at 394-8410 or kayla.gahagan@rapidcityjournal.com