LWVPA HIGH SCHOOL VR

Strategic Objective: To reach 100% of eligible Palo Alto teens in order to register them to vote and inspire them to vote. And to become a part of the fabric of schools so that our annual visits are expected and easily scheduled. 

Results: Nearly 2000 high school students registered to vote by League volunteers during the two years before the pandemic (2017-18; 2018-19). Since then, we have still been in schools but registrations have been fewer due to Motor Voter (automatic voter registration when teens get their driver's license). Also we no longer track numbers of registrations.

Approach: 

• Find Palo Alto teens wherever they are--in public and private schools; in special education programs; in continuation schools, etc. 

• Whenever possible, register and inspire students in a classroom setting because research (and our experience) shows that this maximizes the number of students reached and best accomplishes the task of inspiring and educating future voters. 

Method: 

• Work with schools to schedule classroom visits

• Develop a cadre of League volunteers to work in the classroom

• Three to four volunteers per classroom with clear roles: Team leader, presenter, data gatherer, jack-of-all-trades. 

• The team leader brings forms, pens, voting "box" (for form collection), data sheet. 

• The presenter explains who we are and our nonpartisan stance (that we neither support nor oppose candidates or parties); gives an inspirational opening presentation about voting; and reviews the two most confusing parts of the voter registration form: Choosing a party preference, and vote-by-mail. 

• The presenter also talks about students' options if they go to college outside Santa Clara County (i.e., either have parents send them their ballot; change their mailing address with the registrar; or re-register in their new location). 

• The presenter also asks how many students are already registered. If they aren't sure, we help them to check online at the registrar's website. 

• The team leader assigns each volunteer to work with a specific group of students on the VR form. 

• Students are told that voter registration is optional, but all students are given a VR form and a pen so that they can take the opportunity to register if they so choose. Students who don't choose to register are never asked why. And student's eligibility to vote is never discussed aloud. 

• As forms are completed, volunteers check them for completion. Students put the forms in the voting box.

•  Volunteers thank the teachers and congratulate the students on taking this key step toward adulthood and participation in our democracy.

• The data gatherer records how many students are already registered, the total number of students in the classroom, and the total number of forms collected. We don't collect any information from the forms themselves.

• The team captain seals the forms and puts them in the mail within 3 days as required by law. 

Results: 

PAUSD 2022-2023:  

• Visited Gunn on "PSAT day" for Juniors. Seniors rotated between alumni career presentations and League presentations. Many seniors absent because the day was seen as optional.

• Visited 13 Paly Econ classes during December finals. 

• For the remaining 4-5 Spring Econ classes at Paly the teachers made the presentation themselves.  

• The new Gunn student-run Civics Education club (CEEP) hosted a voter registration event on April 21. 

• A Paly student conducted a survey of students to ask about their voter registration status and how they learned about voter registration.  A majority of students reported learning about voter registration from the League.

PAUSD 2021-2022:  

• Presentations on Zoom to 14 senior Paly Econ classes (in December 2021) with help from students as co-presenters and with help from Econ teachers who did the voter registration portion of the lesson on their own.

• In-person presentations (masked) to seniors at Gunn during a special testing day for Juniors. We needed a lot of volunteers for this as we were in 8 classrooms simultaneously.

• In-person presentations at several independent schools including Kehillah, Sacred Heart, and Pinewood. 

• Numbers registered no longer tracked, but we estimate about 200 across all the schools.

PAUSD 2020-2021:  

• Presentations on Zoom to 14 Paly Econ classes (seniors) before the 2020 general election.

• Presentation on Zoom to Gunn "Together Time" (seniors) before the 2020 general election. 

• We were unable to visit schools in Spring of 2021

PAUSD 2019-20

• No visits needed to senior classrooms (already registered previous spring)

• In Spring 2020 we were unable to visit Paly/Gunn classrooms due to Covid-19

PAUSD Success in the 2018-19 School Year:

• 34 Paly classes visited (14 senior economics classes; 20 junior US History classes) 

• 37 Gunn classes visited (17 Junior US History; 20 Senior Social Studies classes) 

Total PAUSD Students Registered by LWVPA 2018-19:  942

PAUSD Success in the 2017-18 School Year:

• 23 Paly classes visited (7 journalism; 16 senior economics classes)  

• 24 Gunn classes visited (23 senior social studies; 1 journalism)

• 4 Independent Schools visited (Kehillah, Pinewood, Foothill Middle College, School of Independent Learners)

Total # students registered to vote by LWVPA in 2017-18:  967