As a high school librarian I work with 9th through 12th grade students ranging in age from 13 all the way to 19 sometimes by the end of their senior year. One particular aspect of helping students prepare for life after high school is by providing resources, information, and lessons on getting civically involved. One simple way students can have their voices heard is through voting and hosting a voter registration drive, an event that might seem intimidating, but by calling on help from within and outside the school community it is one of my favorite programs to host each year.

Voter Drive Ready

First things first is to set a date, call on community partners, and get administration approval. Our fall voter registration drive is always on National Voter Registration Day where libraries can sign up as patterns and receive toolkits, stickers, posters, and other resources to help run a successful drive. This year ALA launched the Reader. Voter. Ready. campaign that also has been incredibly helpful in providing resources and tips on how to run a voter registration drive, social media graphics, and more. My community is fortunate to have a local chapter of the League of Women Voters where these incredible volunteers work to provide information about elections and host registration drives. Since they are pros at the process, all I had to do was provide a space and tables in the library and then advertise to the school. I used social media graphics, got a spot in the school wide newsletter, and had it in the announcements. If there is not a volunteer group that can work the drive, looking at the website for the local election board will usually provide resources, regulations, and how-tos on how to run one solo. One of the most important parts is getting permission to run the drive and having a plan to get completed forms mailed or turned in as soon as the drive is over.

If it’s for students, why not involve them?

After hosting a few drives with only a handful of registrations, I reached out to our student council and senior class officer sponsors and students to see if they wanted to help too. The turnout grew exponentially from there. The students do such a great job talking to their peers and reminding them to come to begin with, as well as sharing via their own communication channels. The League of Women Voter volunteers help train and answer any questions the students do not know the answer to. Making sure that the drive is also help during a lunch period and shared with senior level teachers to bring students during class time helps with turnout as well.

Civic Engagement in Curriculum

Another way to help young people become involved citizens is through directly teaching them critical thinking and research skills relating to elections and political news and the media around them. I already worked to incorporate these along with my co-librarian when we teach a unit with our Current Issues and International Problems classes each semester, but last spring’s voter drive, I thought about my own voting practices and how I research my ballot every election, but how sometimes it is difficult to take the time to do so or even to find reliable information. This inspired me to work with our government teachers to work in lessons on researching political candidates in addition to lessons about media bias. Using resources and lesson ideas from Project Look Sharp, News Literacy Project, and Civic Online Reasoning along with exploring various media bias charts and their nuances from Ad Fontes Media and All Sides. I worked through definitions and examples with students, we worked on researching local candidates together, and then they practiced on their own with guided help. These lessons worked in information literacy concepts that applied to their community and the importance of local elections.

High Library. Voter. Ready!

“I can’t complain about anything if I’m not going to vote, so that’s why I’m here today.” this sentiment was shared by a 12th grade student to me during one voter registration drive and it’s stuck to me because while the library can certainly help that student get their vote on, the skills that come with managing the information around them leading up to that vote is what can really make a difference. The library is excited to continue voter registration drives, lessons, and more to come!