How to Use this Resource
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You have permission to adapt slides for classroom use (including remove or add images, change the font, remove or add activities, and break up into several slideshows). But you do not have permission to change the words within the text.
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Become a Voting Ambassador 2024
Voting Ambassadors are people who support others to register to vote, learn about the issues, vote, and/or stay active. They can engage in all of these activities or choose a subset. Training students to become Voting Ambassadors is an authentic, relevant way for them to build leadership, engage in civics, and learn basic skills (including digital literacy).
Photo CC by SA 2.0 Michael Fleshman on Flickr
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Table of Contents
Use the first three sections to teach about voting. �Use the last section to make plans to become a voting ambassador.
Why Vote
Fight Like Hell for the Living 4
Voting: My Obligation to Past, Present and Future 19
For Non-Citizens
Not a Citizen? There’s Still A Lot that You Can Do 34
Nitty Gritty about Voting
Register, Learn the Issues, Vote, & Stay Engaged 47
Become a Voting Ambassador
Try It Out! Plan, Act, and Reflect 67
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Fight Like Hell for the Living
By Art Ellison
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BEFORE YOU READ:
Look at the title, the headings, and the photo of the author. What do you think his perspective will be? Why?
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People Died for Our Right to Vote
We vote because we want a better community, state, nation, and world for ourselves but more importantly for our children.
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People throughout the centuries in this country have fought for the right to vote so that their voices could be heard.
Image source: Day 5 of the march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., in March 1965 by Dan Budnik/Contact Press Images
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The men who founded our country limited the right to
vote to white males who owned property.
Image source “This Is A White Man's Government” by Thomas Nast published in Harper's Weekly on September 5,1868
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After the Civil War, Black men got the right to vote, but racism created barriers (poll taxes, literacy tests, and terror from groups like the Ku Klux Klan), which often prevented them from voting.
Image source: “The First Vote” by Alfred Rudolph published in Harper’s Weekly on November 16, 1867
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It wasn’t until 1920 that women finally won the right to vote. And it wasn’t until the 1960s that people of color gained true voting rights.
Image source: “Marchers with signs at the March on Washington, 1963” by Marion S. Trikosko, Library of Congress LC-U9- 10344-16
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Every Vote Counts
We should keep in mind that even one single vote can make a difference. I am a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives.
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During our last session, we had a vote to override the Governor’s veto of the bill to abolish the death penalty in our state.
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In order to successfully override his veto, we needed a minimum of 247 votes (two thirds of the House). The final vote had exactly 247 in favor.
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If we had lost a single vote, we would not have been successful.The New Hampshire Senate also overrode the veto so that the bill abolishing the death penalty became law.
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But Don’t Just Vote
While voting is at the very core of letting our voices be heard, we should be willing to amplify those voices by helping our friends to vote and to work for the political candidates who support our philosophies and beliefs.
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Meanwhile, we keep in mind the words of the famous labor organizer Mother Jones who said, “Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living.”
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Art Ellison is the former New Hampshire State Director of Adult Education. He currently is a member of the NH House of Representatives, and he serves on the Education Committee.
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AFTER YOU READ:
1 . How does Art Ellison feel about voting? How do you know?
2. Explain in your own words what happened in the “Every Vote Counts” section.
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Voting Is My Obligation...
to Past, Present, and Future
By Sheila Mailman
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BEFORE YOU READ:
1. What does “obligation” mean? Try using it in several sentences.
2. What obligations do you have? To whom are you obligated?
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It wasn’t until 1954 that Native Americans in the state of Maine were allowed to vote in federal elections.
Image Source: Princess Watawaso of the Penobscot Indian Tribe published in Bangor Daily News by Danny Maher, 1955.
As a full-blooded Native American (Cheyenne, Maliseet, and Penobscot) woman, I see voting as an obligation both to my ancestors and to generations to come.
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I want to make a difference by exercising my right to vote and helping others do the same.
In my neighborhood, I volunteer to help those who can’t read that well, so that they too have the opportunity to vote.
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I help shut-ins get their absentee ballots, and I campaign for my choices for Congress and governor. I also met our State House representative at the soup kitchen last fall.
Maine State House
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My first voting experience was a result of a group effort in our ABE class. We decided to become active participants in the voting process.
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In class, we talked with some of the candidates. All of the students in the class voted except for one who is not a U.S. citizen yet.
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For some students, their votes were the first in the history of their families. Some of them have lived for two or three generations here in Aroostook County.
Photo by David Benbennick - Maps use data from nationalatlas.gov. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=571152
These students have broken the non-voting trend for themselves and their families.
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I love to vote. I like the excitement, the rush of people entering and exiting booths, and friends coming and going. It is times like these that I look back and see how far our nation has come.
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Gender, nation of origin, and financial status no longer can be used to determine who can vote. For me, “To vote or not to vote,” is not even in question. It is my obligation to the past, present, and future generations—and I do it proudly.
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Sheila was born in Bangor, ME. Her Native name is Sleeping Bear. She learned about her Native American heritage from her maternal grandparents, who taught her how to gather and prepare native herbs, spices and tree bark for treating a variety of ailments and how to predict weather patterns. Sheila currently resides in Caribou, ME, has two adult children and two grandchildren, is an active volunteer at the community soup kitchen, and serves as secretary of the social club. This article was reprinted from the “Democracy in Action” issue of The Change Agent, March 2008.
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AFTER YOU READ:
1. Why does Sheila feel obligated to vote?
2. How does she show her commitment to voting?
3. What role did her ABE class play in the election? What are some ways your ABE class could get involved?
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Not a Citizen? There’s Still A Lot that You Can Do
By Dieuseul Camille
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BEFORE YOU READ:
Brainstorm some ideas about
how non-voters could be involved in the election even if they can’t vote.
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If you are not a U.S. citizen, you might think that you can’t participate in a U.S. election. Actually, you can! How? There are various ways to get involved.
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You can engage in debates and discussions. You can set up little meetings with friends and talk about the issues that are important to you.
You can set up meetings at school, at church, or at work. Also, you can try to motivate your friends who are U.S. citizens to vote.
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At my job, I have many friends who can vote, so I will organize a meeting with them to convince them to vote for candidates that I think will do a good job.
I will make sure they register to vote and they know where to go to vote. Voting is an obligation for all citizens!
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Even if you are not eligible to vote, there is still a lot you can do. I suggest you help educate people about the issues and make sure that everyone around you votes!
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More Ideas
Support your candidate or issue:
Support the elections:
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Turn up the heat in between elections:
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Dieuseul Camille is a student at the Community Learning Center in Cambridge, MA. When he finishes studying, he hopes to get his GED. He is from Haiti, and he came to the U.S. in 2014. He thinks that voting is important because he has seen how many bad things can happen in the government and believes that voting helps people choose a good leader who will do the right things.
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AFTER YOU READ:
Collect ideas from the brainstorm (in the “Before You Read” activity), from Dieuseul’s article, and from the lists on slides 41-43). Which ones could you try?
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Register, Learn, Vote, Stay Engaged!
By Cynthia Peters
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So, you decided you want to vote! What do you need to do to cast your vote or support someone else to vote? Here are the steps:
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1. Register to Vote
Every state in the U.S. (except North Dakota) requires you to register to vote if you want to vote.
To register to vote in the U.S., you need to be a citizen and at least 18 years old on election day. Find out how to register to vote in your state.
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Don’t miss the deadline (which is different in every state)! Ask someone who knows or look it up online. Here are some websites that help you figure out if you’re already registered, and, if not, how to register:
• https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote
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2. Learn the Issues
Now that you are registered, how will you vote? Do you have a preference for a certain political party, and will you vote based on the candidate’s affiliation with that party?
Or will you study the candidates and vote on the one who is most aligned with you on the issues?
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Here are some ways to learn more about the political parties and who is running for office and what they stand for:
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3. Vote
Learn about how to vote in your state. If you vote in person, where is your polling place?
Can you vote by mail? If so, how? (You may need to apply for a mail-in ballot.)
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If you are voting by mail, don’t wait until the last minute to send in your ballot.
Support others to get their ballot in the mail or to go to the polls on election day. If it is safe to do so, give rides to the polls or volunteer at the polls.
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Use your phone and social media to remind people to vote and to connect them with resources they might need to be able to vote.
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4. Stay Engaged
Voting should not be something we do every few years and then forget about it. Once candidates are elected, they need to keep hearing from their constituents.
You can be sure that in between elections, they will be hearing from special interest groups and lobbyists who will try to convince them to vote one way or another on legislation.
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You, too, should put ongoing pressure on your elected officials to vote the way you want them to. Stay engaged by:
• contacting your legislator and letting them know how you feel about an issue
• joining a community-based organization that is working on an issue you care about,
• participating in actions and protests that show
how you feel about an issue.
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Cynthia Peters is the editor of The Change Agent.
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AFTER YOU READ:
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AFTER YOU READ:
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Plan Act Reflect
Try It Out!
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Planning to Become a Voting Ambassador
If you agree that voting is important, what could you do to spread the word? Use Part 1 of this Google doc to organize your ideas. �Note that this Google doc is viewable to anyone with the link. To add notes to it, you need to make a copy of it.
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Acting as a Voting Ambassador
Start small and do more as you feel comfortable.
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Reflecting on your Work as a �Voting Ambassador
It is important to reflect on the process, so you can be clear about what you learned and what you accomplished. Maybe your insights will help inform the work of the next cohort of Voting Ambassadors. Maybe you will identify transferable skills that you can put on your resume and lead you to your next job. Use this Google doc (scroll down to Part 3) to gather your reflections.
And now some final tips for being a Voting Ambassador
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Be a good listener. Take people’s concerns seriously. Your job is to encourage people to vote, but some people have reservations. Listen and respond thoughtfully.
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You don’t have to be an expert. You have learned a lot about the voting, but it’s okay to say, “I don’t know,” if someone asks you something you’re not sure about.
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Don’t tell people what to do. Share your opinions and your passion about the topic, but respect the fact that people may feel differently than you do.
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Remember why this matters! If you feel nervous about starting, review the reasons why you became a Voting Ambassador.
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