Oct 02 2008
Adventures at the Polls
When thinking of interesting places to take your children, don’t discount the polls on election day. Take your kids with you when you vote and let them see the process up-close.
Check the rules for your state, as they may vary, but my Minnesota Election Judge Guide states it specifically:
Authorized persons [in the polling place during voting hours] are:
- … Children when accompanying voters.
If you’re a teacher, check on the rules for taking classes to the polls. In Minnesota, another set of authorized persons is listed as :
- Teachers and elementary and high school students if participating in a mock election that has been authorized by the secretary of state.
We have a great opportunity to show our children how voting works. Let’s take advantage of it!
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Even if you can’t take your kids along, please be sure that you register and vote yourself.
See this “Don’t Vote” video,
register to vote (find out how at http://maps.google.com/vote ), and pass this information along to your friends.
Fellow bloggers, will you help to get out the word? Tag five of your friends and ask them to share this information about the “don’t vote” meme.
I’m tagging:
- Jonah Lisa at The Toby Show
- Caroline at Cheaper by the Half Dozen
- Andrea at Book Mama
- Christina at Northern Cheapskate
- Debbie at DeliciousBaby
I couldn’t agree with you more! I have been taking my kids since they were very, very small, and it has made them interested in the political process year-round! (Of course it helps that our polling place has a snack table.)
Watching us vote impressed upon my kids the importance of elections and keeping informed. My daughter enjoyed looking for campaign signs in neighbors’ yards and asked to listen to NPR on the way to school. My son pointed out caricatures of candidates in gaming magazines and on YouTube videos. My kids knew candidates’ names and parties, explanations of challengers and incumbents and the like before becoming school-aged.
It’s never to early to make them confident about the voting process!
My mom always took one of us to vote with her, and now I always take BB to vote with me. I think this year my husband and I will each take one of the kids. I always enjoyed it with my mom and I think BB enjoys it too.
I do remember, as a young kid, going with my mom when she voted. The importance she attached to voting stayed with me as an adult. I registered as soon as I was eligible to do so and never miss an election!
good reminder – I have been voting my mail forever, since a run in with a strange, over bearing poll worker my junior year in college. But now that my kids are paying attention to the election, perhaps it is time to take them to see our voting system at work!
I could not agree more. Children need to know how important it is to vote.
I took my three last spring when we had to vote for a new MP in Henley. Granted, it is much less time-consuming to vote in the UK (you only vote for one person — not a hundred positions and propositions!)
I also noticed a lot parents doing the same thing.
Fabulous idea! It’s so tempting not to take the kids when you’re not sure if there will be a long wait, technical difficulties, a nearby bathroom, etc. But I agree, it’s so important to show our kids this part of the process.
I’ll be taking my kids to the polls on election day!