LINKS TO VOTER REGISTRATION FORMS:
Voting gives YOU an opportunity to be an important part of democracy. You can decide the candidates who set spending priorities for years to come. Care about health care? Want to improve education funding? Worrying about college tuition? Your vote helps decide. Voting laws are different in each state, so make sure you read the laws found at websites below to participate in democracy!
To learn more about the voting laws in your state and to register to vote, use these sites:
- http://www.smartvoter.org/voter/regvote.html
- http://www.vote411.org/registertovote.php
- http://static.newvotersproject.org/register/
HOW TO GET PEOPLE TO VOTE:
You are now on the road to really participating in the democratic process! You have learned about the long struggle for women’s suffrage, you registered to vote…so now what? Now you can share what you’ve learned. Get your friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, grocery store bagger, and everyone else you know to vote!
Here are some tips on how to do it:
- Show them why voting is important and why their vote counts! This website has some suggestions for explaining to young people why it is important to vote.
- Remind people of what issues are at stake on election day. For example, your friend may care about children's health care, quality public education, affordable college tuition, amd secure retirement options. Remind them that November matters for all of these issues.
- Make voting simple! Remind friends to register to vote, email educational information on the candidates, and offer to carpool to your polling place. The easier the process, the more likely people are to want to participate.
- Build confidence. Have discussions on how elections relate to your daily lives and why to vote. Have a mock election booth to practice.
- Make voting social. Hold a post-voting party, or a pre-voting party…or even a “We Plan to Vote” party weeks ahead of time!
Here are some sites that can help:
- Page 7 of this PDF has great suggestions for getting out the vote!
- How to get coworkers to vote.
- Organizational suggestions for get out the vote efforts. Also has legal “dos” and “do nots”
HOW TO TALK TO YOUR DAUGHTER ABOUT VOTING:
- Choose an issue to follow in the media. Pick one that affects your daughter directly, such as the environment or education, and then follow it through the media, keeping track of who says what. Discuss with her which candidate reflects her views and why.
- Encourage your daughter to contact a candidate. Contact information for specific candidates can usually be found on the candidate’s campaign website.
- Go on a drive or walk through your neighborhood and note all the political advertising that you see. How many different campaigns can you and your daughter identify? Which signs do you like best and why?
- Suggest that your daughter talk to older members of the family about their voting histories. Who were their favorite candidates and why?
- Create a special "ballot" for your daughter to learn about voting with and then vote on while you're in the voting booth.
(These suggestions were found here.)
Try these for more ideas:
- Try a book! This website recommends some good books for discussing voting with children.
- This website has a great voting game idea!
- Games and ideas for families to learn about and practice civic participation.
Fun “Young People” Sites on Voting:
- http://vote.wwe.com/
- http://www.declareyourself.com/
- http://www.rockthevote.com/
- http://think.mtv.com/Issues/politics/
RUN FOR OFFICE:
Now that you’ve really become a part of democracy, want to run for office? You are ready to vote, you are helping friends register and prepare to vote, and you know the importance of participating in your democracy. Ready for more? Take that next step into leadership and run for office! The White House Project offers trainings trainings to prepare women who are ready for that next step, women who are ready to step into leadership and run for office!
Our Go Run program is a weekend-long training dedicated to equipping you, the future candidate, with the skills to run and win. The training aims to demystify the political process and inspire a richly diverse group of women in to the leadership pipeline. Go Run provides the nuts and bolts of running for political office by focusing on areas like communications, fundraising, and campaigning - skills you can use in your work and in your community up to the day you decide to run! Please see our website for more details and to see when a Go Run training will be in your area.
FINDING YOUR CANDIDATES:
From presidential candidates to state representatives and city councilors, elected officials are here to represent you! A great way to let them know how to best represent you is to contact them. Let candidates and elected officials know what is important to you. Do you think the city needs to have a recycling program? Would you like education funding to be more crucial on the national agenda? Then call your city councilor or email a presidential candidate. Many elected officials will get back to you in less than 48 hours! What easier way is there to really have your voice heard than to contact officials that are elected to represent you? You can find contact information for candidates and elected officials through your state’s Secretary of State website.
This site has links to each SOS website, where you can find information on candidates and elected officials
Take our Daughters to the Polls is a non-partisan initiative envisioned by the co-creators of Take our Daughters to Work Day© - Marie C. Wilson (President and Founder, The White House Project) and Carolyn McKecuen (Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Foundation) - and is supported by a national coalition of women's organizations. The program will utilize local, regional, and national media to encourage the political participation of girls across the country, commencing with the 2008 presidential election cycle.
To Get Involved: Please contact Elizabeth Hines, Communications Director, The White House Project: 212.261.4346 / ehines@TheWhiteHouseProject.org.
© Take Our Daughters to the Polls