Kids Voting Buncombe County
Saturday, January 28, 2012

Our Mission: Kids Voting Buncombe County is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to securing the future of democracy by educating and involving youth in the election process today.

Our Objective: To educate students Grades K-12 of the rights and responsibilities associated with voting and to stimulate critical thinking skills necessary for making informed judgments as voters.


The Kids Voting Program:

  • Creates an informed electorate
  • Develops lifetime citizenship and voting habits in youth
Kids Voting Buncombe County partners with schools and election officials to offer students a wide range of opportunities for civic learning:
  • A Classroom Civics Curriculum that introduces students to the concepts of citizenship in the earliest grades and continues throughout their school years. This ongoing education develops skills and habits for living in a democracy.

  • Civics activities that are tools to help teachers meet the standards outlined in the North Carolina curriculum standard and can be fully integrated into the current classroom curriculum.

  • After classroom preparation students take part in a voting experience in school and in designated adult polling places using a ballot with the same candidates and issues as the adult ballot. This practice voting reinforces the knowledge and skills gained through Kids Voting classroom activities.

  • Kids Voting offers a community service opportunity for High School Students. As part of our KV High School Forum, students raise election awareness, facilitate in-school voting, promote voter registration to students turning 18, encourage participation in the KV election and advise Kids Voting-Buncombe County on student issues. They are trained as KV precinct captains and volunteers and can earn community service credit.
Our program is school-based and made available to all public and private school teachers throughout Buncombe County for students in grades K-12.

This combination of classroom instruction, a practice voting experience and family dialogue makes Kids Voting a powerful strategy for achieving long-term voting behavior.
 
More than 45,000 student ballots have been cast with Kids Voting Buncombe County since 2000.