Getting out the vote-- we all know what a huge impact it may take. This weekend I decided to make every girl in my Girl Scout troop "adopt" an issue, develop campaign materials, write down hour and address of the closest early voting location, and take their stuff home to make their parents vote. From past elections, I know my troop families are about 90% Dem & 10% Rep, but none of the adults are likely voters. Follow me below for the heartbreak and hope of encouraging those who are (apparently) raised to hate politics to get grownups in their life out to vote.
When the girls trickled in and sat down, they were initially quite excited, because we've been doing dangerous crafts (designing & building marshmallow guns with PVC pipe), which they enjoy. But their happy expressions transformed to despair and anguish when I told them I was switching tracks and making them earn government patches. They groaned so loudly (as a group) I am sure the neighbors heard. "Yuck, voting!" "That's boring," they complained. "I hate elections," one said. "It's the worst time ever," another agreed.
I wanted to dig myself a hole and die in it. What kind of world do I live in that children hate voting and elections? Without a shovel, I couldn't really carry out my plan, so instead I asked why they were so down on elections and voting. Basically it came down to the incessant barrage of negative advertising, fear of politicians who show up at their doors, and the dislike of having to wait for their parents when there are long lines at the polls. OK, fair enough. My job was giving them something to like about voting.
First, we talked about government. My girls are in 2nd-10th grade, and none of them have studied civics in school. They were surprised to learn that states, counties and municipalities have a legislative, executive, and judicial branch, and none of them were aware of the actual role of the judicial branch. Next, they were surprised that with the exception of supreme court justices and the federal executive, we had the chance RIGHT NOW to elect every single one of these positions-- judges, federal and state representatives and senators, a state executive, and city and county legislators (commission/ city council). But they hated all these people, because of the ads, so we moved on.
I had grabbed a stack of League of Women's Voters Guides from the library & discovered what was going to turn these girls on (without turning any parents off): general obligation bonds and constitutional amendments. I showed the girls where the five bonds and give constitutional amendments were (with the helpful pros/ cons written by the LWVG). We read through them together so everyone understood. Then I broke the girls into small groups and instructed each group to figure out their platform (pro/con) on one of the issues, and each girl had to develop a poster or write a letter in support of the issue.
They set to work with much complaining and soon discovered something wonderful about each bond issue. One bought books for all the libraries in the county. One would fund a new animal shelter, another would get high-speed internet in our rural neighborhood north of Albuquerque. They even found something to like with the sewer and wastewater bond, since they've all had favorite shoes and other clothes ruined in our city's frequently flooded streets. The fifth one will improve Little League facilities across the metro area and (this was the kicker) pay for an otter exhibit at the zoo. All of a sudden all the girls were interested. An otter exhibit? That's something they could get behind. Who doesn't love otters? Doesn't that sound adorable? Now the girls were enthused, and got to work on their campaign materials. They each presented their stump speech and their campaign materials. The two oldest girls held a debate on one of the constitutional amendments, to demonstrate civil discourse. Then we voted.
By this time, the girls were very excited, and looking forward to seeing the outcome of their issues. Some were dismayed when they got the ballots and realized they didn't fully understand some of the issues, so we had another conversation about filling out ballots, and knowing the issues before you go in to vote. The votes were in, we got an impartial observer to count them, and.... everything passed. They were thrilled!
Then I had to remind them that their votes didn't count for squat, and to REALLY get their issues passed, they have to hassle their parents, teachers, aunties, grandpas, big brothers-- whoever they know who has not yet voted, but is registered to vote. On the campaign materials, each girl wrote down the dates, hours and addresses of the closest early voting locations as well as the hours, address and date for election day polling locations. They each promised to get at least one person to go vote. As they left, I promised that next time we would be back to danger and adventure and they cheered loudly. I smiled, but in my heart, I vowed to keep making them get involved until they see how active citizenship government can help us do our job as Girl Scouts, to make the world a better place.
If all you care about keeping your shoes dry, fine. Go vote for it. If you just want fast internet so you can watch One Direction videos, fine. Vote for it. Vote for some people while you're at it. Maybe educate yourself on some of the other issues. It won't be that boring, and it won't even take that long. And if all goes well, we'll have adorable, frolicking otters at the zoo! Yay, democracy!