YOUth Vote is a state wide mock election. The initiative has three components:
- A mock election open to all K-12 students in your state.
- A voter registration drive for eligible high school students.
- Educational resources to teach about the voting process.
Mock Election
The mock election is open to all students K-12, and the schools or districts which serve them. Registration can be completed at the district or school level by requesting the total number of ballots needed to serve all students. The ballots are separated by grade level: elementary school, middle school, and high school. Each ballot reflects the voting districts to which the school or district office address belong, meaning that the students will be voting on the same candidates as registered voters in their communities. As students age, they will be given access to more elections.
- Elementary School: Congressional, State Constitutional
- Middle School: Congressional, State Constitutional
- High School: Congressional, State Constitutional, and State Legislature
After the registration deadline has passed, schools will receive ballot codes and instructions for voting, as well as information on how to access their election results. Election results of your school only will become available after election day.
Deadline to Register for 2026 Mock Election: October 8, 2026
Mock Election Voting Window: October 12-23, 2026
Mock Election Results Available: November 4, 2026
TEACHING ABOUT VOTING AND ELECTIONS
Lesson Plans
- The National Archives’ Elections & Voting page on DocsTeach, the online tool for teaching with documents, includes primary source sets and teaching activities for elementary through high school students. You can also find primary sources like posters, documents, photographs, and artifacts related to topics such as campaign memorabilia, the Electoral College, Presidential inaugurations, voter suppression, and expanding voting rights.
- Voting Rights for Women: Pro- and Anti-Suffrage (Gr. 7-12) Examines attitudes about women before they won the right to vote.
- Evaluating Polling Methods and Results (Gr. 7-12) Learn polling terms and how to evaluate poll methodologies and results.
Other Resources
- Which Level of Government? Workbook
- Voting Rights Timeline
- 16 Famous Spots Where Primary History Was Made – From Lindy’s Diner in Keene to the Ballot Room at the Balsams, discover some of the iconic sites of the NH Primary.
- One Person, One Vote (Gr. 6-12) In this documentary, Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Stephen G. Breyer and other experts discuss how the principle of one person, one vote emerged from a series of landmark decisions, including Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Sims.
Games
- Cast Your Vote – You choose debate questions, rate responses, and vote for the candidate of your choice.
- Win the White House – Manage your own presidential campaign by strategically raising funds, polling voters, launching media campaigns, and making personal appearances.
- Inside the Voting Booth Gr. 3-8 Introduce students to history of suffrage in America, understand why it is important to vote, and vote in a mock issues survey.
- Popularity Contest – A game where students run two separate campaigns; one for an electoral victory and one for a popular vote victory. The candidates spend “campaign promises” to influence the outcome of the election.