5 Ideas for Teaching the Election Process to Elementary & Middle School Students
When I was in elementary and middle school, I remember the presidential election was an exciting time in social studies. It was the perfect topic for hands-on lessons that taught the election process and connected to real world activities.
Civics and government can be difficult topics for students to grasp. Let’s be real - many adults don’t understand government processes like the Electoral College either!
5 Ideas for Teaching the Election Process
After teaching civics, I realized younger students struggle with government topics because many are abstract - and their brains are still on concrete learning. They aren’t quite ready to tackle concepts like freedom, liberty, and justice.
How can you teach the election process so that students understand the lessons? Hands-on activities help elementary and middle school students comprehend the concepts. It is also important to chunk the information in bite-sized pieces, making sure students understand each part without overwhelming them.
Here are five lesson ideas for teaching the election process.
Political Views Quiz
A political ideology quiz can be interesting for students to see with which party their views align.
You can find a handful of political views quizzes online, but most of them are geared toward high school students or adults. You also have to be careful to use an unbiased quiz - some are created by organizations connected to political entities. Some have questions I felt were inappropriate for students, too.
The quizzes by the Pew Research Center and ISideWith are the best ones I found. They are too hard for elementary students. If you teach middle school, I recommend going through them and seeing if they are a good fit for your students.
If your students are interested in politics, they would probably enjoy the quizzes. If they don’t really have opinions on issues, the quizzes would probably not be effective.
Pew Research Center Political Quiz
Review the Ballot
Make the election real by printing sample ballots for students to complete. Finding the ballot for your area is easy - just use either of the websites below.
At Vote 411, run by the League of Women Voters, you can also register to vote and check your registration status. You can also find information on voting in each state, such as the absentee ballot process.
Ballotpedia Sample Ballot Lookup Tool
Track the Election Results
You can ask students to track the votes as they are declared on election night. Keep in mind that many states won’t be declared on election night or the tallies will happen late at night.
Instead of having students do it at home, you could print an Electoral College map and complete the map in class. Have students track the vote count as you mark each state. Candidates need 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.
You can use the interactive map at 270 to Win to track the vote count. Simply click on a party, then click the state to assign the votes.
C-Span’s map shows how states voted in the last election, as well as the vote counts from elections since 1900. You can project the map to view online or print it, but it would require colored ink.
Blank Electoral College maps are available to print at Education World.
270 to Win Interactive Electoral Map
Education World Printable Electoral College Map
Hold a Mock Election
I saw a number of recommendations for holding mock elections. Generally, teachers have students vote between two things - it could be two candidates in the school, the best rapper, the best cookie, favorite chip flavor, etc. - it just has to be a run-off between two candidates.
For middle school, you could have a more realistic election, where there are candidates with platforms. For elementary, I would keep it simpler - you want them to understand the difference between the popular vote and the Electoral College, so the platform doesn’t really matter.
To drive home the difference between popular and electoral votes, you need to track both. Before the activity, create a notecard for each state and DC. Randomly pass out all the cards to students (students will end up with more than one unless you have 51 students.) Also give each student one counter - math counter, bean, etc. - just something they can turn in.
During the election, have each student come up and vote. I recommend two empty tissue boxes marked with the choice and some science boards for privacy. You could set up multiple polling stations so voting goes more quickly.
Gather the votes. Use the 270 to Win website to track the electoral votes, while students color in a blank map. Tally the results to see who won the Electoral College.
Count the popular vote. How did it compare to the Electoral votes?
Some teachers said they purposefully gave students who supported the less popular candidate states with high Electoral votes so that the popular vote didn’t match. To determine that, have students discuss the candidates in small groups first. As you walk around and listen to the discussions, determine which one is more popular and pass out the Electoral College cards to students as they are talking.
270 to Win Interactive Electoral Map
Education World Printable Electoral College Map
Teach the Election Process
The presidential election process can be confusing for students. What are caucuses and primaries? Why do we use the Electoral College?
Students have a hard time comprehending the pieces and visualizing the process from a textbook. To make it easier, I wrote short passages that explain each step of the presidential election on a 6th - 7th grade level.
Each text is one page or less and focuses on one part of the process. Comprehension questions are included, as well as a timeline activity that shows the Road to the White House. I also included the Oath of Office and excerpts of inaugural addresses, perfect for extension activities.
My Presidential Election Process Texts & Activities are perfect for a mini-unit on the election. Grab yours here.
