[Arizona]-- The Fourth of July is a special time to celebrate our national independence and the freedoms we cherish as individuals. For Kids Voting Arizona, it also marked the beginning of a campaign to provide every Arizona student with the opportunity to vote in the Kids Voting General Election this fall.

 

To date, 675 schools, representing nearly a half million students, are registered to vote in the November 4^th, 2008 Kids Voting Arizona General Election.  Now celebrating its 20^th year, Kids Voting Arizona is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots-driven voter education program that provides its hands-on curriculum and teacher training free to all Arizona schools upon request. Kids Voting classroom activities, coupled with family exercises and an opportunity to vote in a Kids Voting election, have been shown to increase adult turnout by as much as 5%. 

 

 “Over 93,000 kids voted last February in the Kids Voting Presidential Preference election, and since then we’ve just been overwhelmed with the positive response from schools and interest in the November election. While this is a great trend for democracy and civic engagement in our state, it does present some challenges for our organization.” noted Jeffrey Schrade, Senior Director for Kids Voting Arizona. “With increased demand comes increased costs and we’re going need help to make sure that we can reach all the children who want to cast a Kids Voting ballot in November.”

 

In addition to providing hands-on activities and teacher training free to all Arizona schools who request it, Kids Voting Arizona provides Arizona schools with materials to host a voting booth on campus, such as Voter ID cards, “I Voted” stickers, paper ballots and an online voting system.  Kids Voting Arizona has estimated that the program costs about 50 cents per student or about $15 for an average classroom to vote. 

 

“The value of this lesson is immeasurable – by teaching this generation to exercise their right and responsibility as citizens to vote, we are preserving the health of our democratic republic. My favorite thing about the Kids Voting program is that it includes activities for discussing the voting process with family at home. How would you answer if your child asked if you voted?” reflected Phoenix kindergarten teacher Melissa Garcia.

 

Individuals interested in sponsoring a local classroom to vote in the November Kids Voting Arizona election can visit http://www.kidsvotingaz.org or call (602) 340-7366 for more information. 

 

Kids Voting Arizona is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots-driven voter education program. As an organization, Kids Voting Arizona is committed to creating lifelong voting habits in children and increasing adult voter turnout. Through the Kids Voting Arizona program, Arizona is leading the fight against voter apathy. Kids Voting Arizona is administered through a partnership with the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education.

The Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education provides technical and financial assistance to legal aid organizations, schools and community groups. The Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education promotes “Access to Justice for All Arizonans” by supporting law-related education and free legal services and by promoting statewide collaborative efforts. The Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education plays a leading role in preparing Arizona students for civic responsibility. The Foundation reaches more than 100,000 children each year by training teachers, school resource officers and probation officers about our laws, justice system and the foundations of democracy. It is also home of LawForKids.org, America’s first Web site dedicated to teaching students about the law.

 

 

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