Voting Rights Teaching Toolkits Reaching Classrooms Across the Country

Teachers around the country are requesting our Voting Rights Teaching Toolkit to help young people see voting as part of a broader effort to improve their lives and communities — and to see themselves as agents of change rather than spectators to politics. The National Education Association printed the lessons, voting rights organizations provided additional resources, and individual donors are contributing to the cost of postage.

Our goal is to send at least 500 toolkits and reach all 50 states and territories. Your donation can make that possible.

Each request for a toolkit includes a note about how or why the educator plans to teach about voting rights from September through the election. Here are a few responses:

This is important because voter registration is down in our community, and I want to inspire them to become active voters while they are enthusiastic about the process. — High school social studies teacher, Nashville, Tennessee

My students have faced barriers throughout their lives and often feel disconnected from change-making processes. I want them to learn about concrete actions people have taken before them and to take action themselves. — High school social studies teacher, Saint Paul, Minnesota

My aim is to help students move beyond passive citizenship and recognize the power of their voices. I want them to understand that they can start where they are, address needs they see, and bring light to the spaces they occupy. In our small, rural Mississippi community, national decisions can feel distant, and students may question whether their participation, activism, or community organizing can make a difference. Studying people who created change within their own communities can help students see themselves as participants in democracy. — High school history teacher, Camden, Mississippi

This critical focus is especially vital for our school and community in Hawai‘i right now; our state’s unique history with colonialism, sovereignty, and representation makes the question of “who gets a voice” deeply personal and resonant for our students. — High school social studies teacher, Mililani, Hawai‘i

Students will be learning how their voice has power, and that they need to consistently use their voice with integrity. They also need to make sure they are abiding by the documents that help ensure all people are treated fairly. The issues of gerrymandering, fraud accusations, and “rigging,” while taking away voting sites, all have an imperative call to action. These tools are extremely meaningful at this time. — Elementary and middle school teacher, Portland, Oregon

I want students to learn that voting is a right that many people gave their blood, sweat, and tears to earn and how we should honor their legacy through civic engagement. I want them to understand that they are an important part of upholding our multiracial democracy and be aware of the attacks on voting rights in recent years. — high school social studies teacher, Clayton, North Carolina

I teach a class that is examining the health of our democracy. Free and fair elections play a huge part in allowing the government to work for the people. — middle and high school social studies teacher, Williamsville, New York

My goal is to create a project based unit on youth civic engagement. I’m hoping students come up with inspirational projects they care about and will impact their communities for the better. — middle school social studies teacher, Olympia, Washington

My goal is to contribute to a high level of urgency for students to register and vote in the November election. — high school social studies teacher, Meridian, Mississippi

I teach AP Government and look forward to having more materials to reinforce the need to vote, the importance of helping everyone get to the booth, and on the challenges many citizens experience just trying to get their vote count. I’d like to provide my students with resources for making sound change; to use tried and true methods for positively affecting the government policies in their communities, state and country. — high school social studies teacher, Fulshear, Texas

We want students to better understand why the right to vote is important and how it plays a role in democracy. We live in a very rural area and there are challenges faced by voters here. It is important that students understand how every vote truly does matter and how they (even not at voting age) can encourage people of voting age to see the significance of going to the polls. — middle school social studies teacher, Barre, Massachusetts

Our students don’t see the point in voting; they don’t think they can make a difference. Through these lessons, we’re hoping to show them that they can make a positive difference, especially in local elections and the school governing board, as those are effects they can see more easily. Especially as our community is rocked by immigration raids, the attack on bilingual education, and the school to prison pipeline. — high school social studies teacher, Tucson, Arizona

It is especially important right now as there is more pushback on voting rights and civil rights more broadly for students to not take them for granted. Students need to be able to articulate the importance of these rights and identify when they are challenged.— high school social studies teacher, Littleton, Colorado

I want my students to be more critical in their thinking about elections and understand that even though it is not a presidential election, this election is just as if not more important. I teach in a battleground state and county. As such we are inundated with misinformation and barriers to voting that my students need knowledge to help fight. — high school history teacher, Middletown, Pennsylvania

These midterm elections are a pivotal moment for the United States. They will determine whether any semblance of checks and balances will survive. It is important to me that students are primed and ready to understand the mechanics of the elections and the consequences of the results. I also want students to feel empowered that they can impact the results of an election, even when they may be too young to vote. — high school history teacher, Seattle, Washington

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