By Janelle Rivers, special to Statehouse Report | Social studies coordinators, supervisors and lead teachers in all South Carolina school districts now have a resource that explains South Carolina’s election system and permits eligible students to register to vote online.
Lexington School District One teachers and social studies coordinator, Albert Robertson, worked with the League of Women Voters to develop and field test the resources during President’s Week last year. Members of the League of Women Voters of the Columbia Area developed and refined a script and PowerPoint that were distributed without cost to all district social studies coordinators in South Carolina for use by teachers of American Government and Economics. The League of Women Voters of South Carolina endorsed the project.
Robertson stated, “It was great to have LWV members come and help teachers present the information. We are always looking for experts to have come into our classrooms, and the students responded very well to the LWV members. We want our students to grow into active and engaged citizens, and we appreciate the time and efforts of the LWV in helping to put these fantastic resources together!”
Teachers in all parts of the state can use this resource to introduce students to the state’s election site, www.scvotes.org, where anyone who is eligible can register by entering their driver’s license and social security numbers. The online system verifies information with the S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles, and the State Election Commission mails the voter identification card to the address that is on the voter’s driver’s license.
The League also provided two other resources. Teachers were offered a PowerPoint presentation with information about how to use ProCon.org, a nationally respected resource for examining pros and cons of a variety of policy issues and how its sources are documented. The other resource explained how to access the League’s candidate voter information web site, www.VOTE411.org,
The League supports www.VOTE411.org, which allows candidates to enter their own information prior to an election and provides prospective voters with customized ballot information. Users can use the site to browse information about elections and candidates all over the United States. Most importantly, if voters choose to enter their addresses, the www.VOTE411.org website will filter information for their local precincts and provide information about the races and referendum questions that they will see when they go to the polls. The site does not collect names or addresses of users; however, potential voters have the option of sending themselves an email with a reminder of any selections they choose to make while they are studying the information on the web site.
Members of the League of Women Voters of the Columbia Area members have volunteered to assist schools in whatever ways the schools desire, including providing guest speakers or voter registration resources. The League of Women Voters never supports or opposes individual candidates or political parties; instead, the League works to empower and inform voters.
Robertson, who also is president of the South Carolina Social Studies Supervisors Association, said feedback has been positive. Teachers appreciate having additional resource materials, and this project has provided another way for League members to help educate students about the responsibilities of citizenship and the importance of voting.
One of the nation’s most trusted organizations since its beginning in 1920, the League of Women Voters encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. Membership is open people age 16 and older.
Janelle Rivers is president of the League of Women Voters of the Columbia Area.
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We Can Do Better, South Carolina!
I have been working with the LWV to register voters in high school. As a civics and government teacher long ago I still think that all students need a civics course before they take American Government. The emphasis should be on local and state government and elected officials. Local government will have a greater effect on the day to day life of students as compared to federal officials who will rearly show up save election year,and their interest is only registered voters.