We developed this curated set of election-related lesson plans and resources to help educators and caregivers learn and teach about the history of our democracy, voting rights, election fundamentals, political representation, voter registration, poll workers, and debates.
voter registration
Federal Elections
State Information
Mail-in Ballot Information
Events
Videos and Tools
- Teaching the Truth About Voter Suppression: It’s a common misconception that the only thing stopping people from voting is laziness. But voter suppression is real, and your students need to understand how it happens.
State Information
- As of August 2020, a total of 40 states offer online registration, and one other state (Oklahoma) has passed legislation and is currently phasing in implementation of their online registration. Learn if your state offers online registration here.
Mail-in Ballot Information
- California
- Massachusetts
- New York
- Oklahoma
- Rhode Island
- Texas
Events
- Voter Registration Toolkit By States: Rock the Vote's how-to guide that helps you plan your voter registration drive from start to finish!
- 5 Ways to Support Undocumented Students During Election Season
- The Young and The Registered Webinar: a webinar by Teaching Tolerance
Videos and Tools
- First Time Voters Video
- The U.S. Postal Service And The Fight Over The Integrity Of The 2020 Election
- Why Vote? Tool from Right Question Institute
Your students may be too young to register to vote, but it’s never too early to learn about what it takes to get to the ballot! This activity is a great way to kick off the election season, and promote voter registration in the larger community. Students will learn about how registration and voting works in their state, and create a flyer to share with someone in their life. National Voter Registration Day is on September 22 this year, and has a mission of registering voters across the country.
elections fundamentals
Federal Elections
Articles
Events
Videos & Podcasts
- Scholastic Election 2020: The place for students to learn about the issues, meet the candidates, and participate in the student vote!
- Verified Voting: A nonpartisan voting advocacy, accountability, and research group, Verified Voting provides resources that allow you to find what voting equipment is used in each state, how the equipment works, and laws and regulations in place across the country to promote transparent and verifiable elections.
Articles
- Newsela media literacy election resource
- Youth Who Learned about Voting in High School More Likely to Become Informed and Engaged Voters
Events
- NCSS: Why We Need to Help Students Navigate the 2020 Elections and Beyond, and How to Do So: This webinar is intended to help K-12 educators consider the ways that they can engage students in inquiry and preparation to participate in the 2020 presidential election this November and civic life in the future—without starting from scratch or going it alone.
Videos & Podcasts
Help your students predict the next president with the Electoral Decoder, an interactive cartogram. Students will look at how the Electoral College has affected presidential elections throughout history by using the 'Electoral Decoder' from the PBS Election Central website. They will also make predictions as to how the electors will vote in the next presidential election.
political representation
Federal Level
State Level
Articles
Videos & Podcasts
- Intro to representation as a result of electoral structures: description of various forms of electoral systems and exploring proportional representation.
- The changing face of Congress in 6 charts: brief overview of Congressional demographics in comparison to past congresses & relative to national demographics.
State Level
- California
- Legislative Demographics: interactive chart showing state legislative racial demographics- adjustable by gender and by branch (assembly or senate), reflecting special elections through May 2020
- Massachusetts
- Elected Bodies in Mass. Do Not Reflect State's Diversity, Report Finds: summarizing key points from MassForward report on Democratic Innovation & Electoral reform, includes helpful visual of changes needed as well as the original report with more nuanced tables.
- New York
- Full List of Elected Representatives for NY
- Interactive NY Demographics Map: uses 2010 census data to compare eligible voters vs overall population demographics in each district (districts can be organized by State Senate or by Assembly).
- Oklahoma
- Oklahoma Legislative District Demographics: by race/ethnicity & population change by senate and house districts
- Rhode Island
- Demographic Breakdown of General Assembly: includes generational, gender, race/ethnicity, & partisan breakdowns- all data addressing overall assembly, and then Senate & House in particular
- Texas
- In increasingly diverse Texas, Legislature remains mostly white and male: demographic breakdown of 86th legislature
Articles
Videos & Podcasts
- Who Leads Us? Demographic break down of representation among elected officials compared to demographic breakdown of US
poll workers
poll workers
Federal Elections
State Elections
Articles
Experts by State
Videos & Podcasts
- Help America Vote: easy-to-use search tool to find info about becoming a poll worker where you live
- What Is a Poll Worker?: 1-pager by workelections.com, a Fair Elections Center project
State Elections
- California
- High school poll worker and ambassador programs (San Francisco County, 16+)
- Statewide poll worker application (16+)
- Massachusetts
- New York
- Oklahoma
- Rhode Island
- Texas (16+)
Articles
- America's rush for young poll workers by Danielle Alberti and Ursula Perano for Axios
- Few people want to be poll workers, and that's a problem by Matt Vasilogambros for PEW
- Pandemic proves importance of new poll workers by Elizabeth Sidler for Nondoc
Experts by State
Videos & Podcasts
- Poll Working 101 video from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission
- From Online Conventions to Teen Poll Workers, the Virus is Transforming Election 2020
- What's it like to be a poll worker?
voting rights
Federal Elections
Videos & Podcasts
- U.S. Voting Rights Timeline
- U.S. Voting Rights - A Short History: narrative timeline that includes voting rights activism and relevant Supreme Court cases affecting laws
Videos & Podcasts
- Debates and the Race for the White House: A video report about the impact debates have had in past elections
- Trump and Clinton on Race and Policing in their 1st Presidential Debate
debates
Federal Elections
Lessons & Units
Articles
Videos & Podcasts
- The Commission on Presidential Debates: Provides debate history, current news, how to host a debate watch, and 2020 debate schedule
- Free & Equal Elections Open Presidential Debate 2020: The foundation hosted its first Open Presidential Debate of 2020 addressing many criticisms of recent presidential debates, including frustrating formats, irrelevant questions, and heavy-handed candidate exclusions.
Lessons & Units
Articles
- Practicing Civil Discourse During a Not So Civil Presidential Election
- How to Make Presidential Debates Serve Voters, Not Candidates | Opinion
Videos & Podcasts
- Should Presidential Election Debates Be Abolished? Coronavirus has made this a pretty strange election cycle. But with some campaign norms on the chopping block, why not take look at whether debates or conventions are good for democracy?
- The Case for the Presidential Debate: Nothing about the 2020 presidential campaign is typical and the debates are no different. Diane talks with Janet Brown, executive director of the Commission on Presidential Debates, about how they are planning in the middle of a pandemic.
