On Tuesday, students from across North Carolina pulled out their cell phones, opened their chromebooks, or lined up at desktop voting booths to cast their ballots in November local elections. Forty-seven schools in 33 counties participated in the First Vote NC simulation local election platform. More than 5,300 students cast ballots for municipal races across the state in October and November.
Teachers found the process easy and informative.
Thanks to you both for all of your hard work on such an extraordinary undertaking! My students that voted said they loved it and that it was super easy to navigate. I pushed the link out through Google Classroom in all of my classes which helped with “how to vote” issues. I have looked at the results with my AP US Government class since we are covering my unit on voter participation. The were very impressed at how our number lined up with others in the state. Thanks so much for this opportunity.
– Selina S. Jarvis, Social Studies Teacher, Currituck County High School, Barco, NC
I thought the entire process was great. It was easy to set the kids up with and easy for them to understand. I really hope you will do this again next year when there are a lot more positions to vote on. I’m pushing the administration to make sure that Civics will be offered in the fall semester next year. This year all of the seniors are lined up to take it with me in the spring. Thank you for creating this, for a lot of my students it was the first ballot they have ever seen. Please let me know if you end up having any programs geared towards civics this spring, I would love to stay involved with what you are trying to build. Thank you for everything!
– Tom Becker, Civics and Economics Teacher, North East Carolina Preparatory, Tarboro, NC
In addition to voting in local elections, students answered issue-based questions
and provided demographic data.
Students can explore their results by exit poll and compare their answers to the statewide results.
You can learn more about First Vote NC and view the results of both the October and November local elections at www.firstvotenc.org.
Thanks to all the teachers and schools across North Carolina who participated in First Vote NC and prepared students to be civic-ready when they graduate!
