LRHS students participate in state mock election

Students taking social studies at Lind-Ritzville High School are taking part in the statewide student mock elections.

Social studies instructor Bryce Court has included the election and several lessons provided by the state in his curriculum.

According to a press release from the office of Washington’s Secretary of State, the mock election is open until Nov. 5.

“Voting is one of the greatest opportunities to make a difference in an individual’s community,” said Secretary of State Kim Wyman. “Having a chance to learn about the importance of the election process at an early age is a critical step to making civic engagement a lifelong habit.”

The program includes several resources for schools, including “I Voted” stickers and an online instruction guide called “Teaching Elections in Washington State.” The guide has lesson plans for elementary school, middle school and high school students on topics such as, “Citizenship: what’s a good citizen?,” “Candidates: who represents me?,” “Presidential Elections: road to the White House,” “Sources: is that a fact?” and “Initiatives & Referenda: laws by the people.”

“There’s a whole course plan,” Court said. “A couple of the lessons talk about voter apathy. Less than 40% of eligible voters turned out for the last presidential election. So I think they are trying to combat voter apathy.”

Court said he hopes to stress to his students that voting in all elections matter, not just the presidential election.

“There are a lot of really important elections,” Court said. “Local elections matter. When you aren’t turning out for a local election, you aren’t using your voice.”

Court says he’s trying to give his students a background of elections before turning them loose to vote.

“We started off talking about voting and voter turnout,” Court said. “We discussed how voting laws have expanded to try to allow everyone to vote. We talked about citizenship. Today, my lesson was on initiatives and referendums and why they are important.”

This is Court’s first experience with the program. So far, he says he likes what he sees.

“I think it’s a good program,” Court said. “I was surprised that they address voter apathy. That’s normally a topic that people don’t talk about. I think the state is saying, ‘Hey, we have a problem, people aren’t turning out. Let’s talk about why.’ Some of the lessons coming up have to do with being smart consumers of political ads. That’s very important ... I am pretty impressed by some of the things they chose to address.”

Court acknowledges that all these lessons can be taught without doing a mock election, but he says he hopes the voting aspect of the program excites his students.

“The sooner we can get kids to understand that they have a voice in democracy, the better,” Court said. “I’m hoping they can understand that their voice is relevant.”