Elections and Voting

Our Illinois Voting 101 Lesson Plan is a digital breakout room activity that students can complete individually or in teams using Google forms.  The lesson addresses the essential question, “How can we, as members of our community, inform others with the information necessary to participate in elections?” and the supporting question, “What information do voters need to navigate the voting process in Illinois?”

Who carries out elections in the state of Illinois?

Elections are administered locally by the state’s 108 election authorities. These are the county clerks in 101 counties, one county election commissions and 6 municipal election commissions. These local authorities are a very important part of Illinois’ election process. As part of their many responsibilities they handle local voter registration programs, train election judges, select polling places, get ballots printed, oversee Election Day activities, and supervise the vote count at the local level.

Source: Illinois State Board of Elections

Can I be an election judge?

Registered voters can apply to be an election judge with their local election authority. Compensation differs by region. In addition, Illinois high school students (ILCS 5/13-4) may serve as election judges. Qualifications include:

• Be a U.S. citizen by the time of the election
• Be a high school junior or senior in good standing enrolled in a public or private secondary school
• Maintain at least a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale
• Successfully complete an election judge training course conducted by the Clerk’s office
• Have written approval by your high school principal
• Have written approval from a parent or legal guardian

Applications for the Illinois Student Judge Program can be secured through your local election authority.

What are the requirements to be able to register to vote in the state of Illinois?

To be eligible to register to vote in the state of Illinois:

• You must be a United States Citizen
• You must be 17 years old on or before the date of the Primary Election and turn 18 on or before the date of the General or Consolidated Election
• You must live in your election precinct at least 30 days prior to Election Day
• You must not be serving a sentence of confinement in any penal institution as a result of a conviction
• You may not claim the right to vote anywhere else

Source: Illinois State Board of Elections

How do new voters register to vote?

New voters can register online, with a mail-in application or in person.

• The League of Women Voters in Illinois has created these step by step informational flyers to help students navigate the process.
  • Registering to Vote in Illinois- Step by Step
  • Registering to Vote in Illinois- QR Code
• The Illinois State Board of Elections has an online voter registration form that new residents and newly eligible voters can complete.
• New applicants can download an application and register to vote by mail and send the form to their local election authorities.
• Applications are also available in Spanish
• Your local election authorities may be able to provide application in various languages. For example, Cook County has applications in 12 languages on their website.

Individuals may also register to vote in person with their local election authorities or with an Illinois Deputy Registrar. Deputy registrars can be found at/include:

• County Clerk’s Office
• City and Village Offices
• Township Offices
• Precinct Captains
• Schools
• Public Libraries
• Military Recruitment Offices
• Some Labor Groups
• Some Civic Groups (League of Women Voters)
• Some Corporations

Source: Illinois State Board of Elections

What documents do I need to register to vote?

If you do not have a driver’s license, State Identification Card or social security number, you must provide (i) a copy of a current and valid photo identification, or (ii) a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows the name and address of the voter.

If you do not provide the information required above, then you will be required to provide election officials with either (i) or (ii) described above the first time you vote at a voting place or by absentee ballot.

Source: Illinois State Board of Elections

I think I might already be registered. How can I be sure?

If you are not sure if you are already registered to vote, you may use the Illinois State Board of Elections Voter Registration Status Portal to check your status.

Source: Illinois State Board of Elections

Under what circumstances would I have to re-register in Illinois?

• If you move, you can visit My Move for information about changing your registration.
• If you change your name.
• If you have not voted for several election cycles, your local election authorities may have assumed you moved. Be sure to check your status to make sure you are still registered.

Source: Illinois State Board of Elections

When do voters need to (and not need to) show ID in Illinois?

No ID is needed when:

• The voter is already registered at the current address and voting in the correct precinct.
• The signature appears to match the voter signature on file.
• Election Judges do not challenge the person’s right to vote.

One (1) Form of ID with the voter’s current address is needed when:

• Election Judges challenge the person’s right to vote.
• Voter submitted mail-in registration form that did not have Illinois identification/driver’s license number or Social Security number.

Two (2) Forms of ID are needed when:

• The voter is registering in person after the voter registration deadline, including in the voter’s home precinct on Election Day.
• The voter is filing an address change in person after the voter registration deadline, including in the voter’s home precinct on Election Day. One of these two IDs must list the voter’s current address.

What are acceptable forms of ID?

• Passport or Military ID
• Driver’s License or State ID card
• College/University/School/Work ID
• Vehicle registration card
• Lease, mortgage or deed to home
• Credit or debit card
• Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid card
• Insurance card
• Civic, union or professional membership card
• LINK/Public Aid/Department of Human Services card
• Illinois FOID card
• First-class mail addressed to the voter. This includes Bill, Transcript or Report Card from School, Bank Statement, Pay Stub or Pension Statement, Utility, Medical or Insurance Bill, and Official mail from any government agency

Source: Cook County Clerk’s Office

I know someone serving overseas in the military. What about U.S. citizens living overseas. can they still register to vote?

There are several programs that allow those residing out of the country to register and vote on election day. You can find an overview of these programs on the Illinois State Board of Elections website.

Can I become a Deputy Registrar and register people to vote?

The following may make applications to their election authority to become deputy registrars:

• Chief librarian or their designee
• The principal or their designee of a high school, elementary school or vocational school
• President or their designee of a university, college, community college, academy or other institution of learning
• Officials or their designees of bona fide labor organizations
• Officials or their designees of bona fide state civic organizations as certified by the State Board of Elections
• The Director of Healthcare and Family Services or their designated employees
• Illinois Department of Employment Security Director or their designated employees
• President of any corporation as defined by the Business Corporation Act of 1983 or their designated employees

Source: Illinois State Board of Elections Deputy Registrar Guidelines

Can you vote if you have a felony conviction in Illinois?

The only people in Illinois who cannot vote because of their criminal record are people who:

• Are in prison or jail serving a sentence because of being convicted of any crime
• Are in an Adult Transition Center
• Are on furlough from prison or jail
• Are on work release from prison or jail

You should be able to register and vote if you completed your sentence for a felony crime, if you are on probation or parole, if you have been arrested or charged with a crime but have NOT been convicted, or if you are in jail before your trial.

Source: 866 Our Vote

What if a person needs accommodations on election day Due to a disability?

Polling places are required to be accessible to people with disabilities, but some polling places may be granted an exemption. If a polling place has been granted an exemption, you may contact your local election office ahead of time to request “curbside voting” so that you can vote from your vehicle.

Source: 866 Our Vote

What if a person has a disability or is not comfortable voting in English and needs someone’s help in order to vote. Can they get assistance at the polls?

Any voter who needs help voting has the right to get help, as long as the voter makes the choices on the ballot and the person helping just marks the choices made by the voter. A voter may choose anyone to assist them other than their employer or union representative. In many places, polling places are required to provide help in Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, and other languages.

Source: 866 Our Vote

Where can I find out more about Illinois youth’s voting habits and other indicators of civic health?

• The Illinois Civic Health Index from the Robert R. McCormick Foundation and the National Conference on Citizenship can be a great place to start.
• For more recent data, explore the Youth Voting and Civic Engagement in America Data Tool from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).

Where can my students research more about how our state governs elections and makes participation accessible and equitable?

• National Council of State Legislatures
• League of Women Voters
• MIT Election Data + Science Lab
• New Voting Restrictions in America

Where can my students learn more about access to the ballot issues in Illinois?

The Citizen Advocacy Center (CAC) recently hosted a webinar on Free and Fair Elections in Illinois During the Pandemic that provided an overview of election laws, procedures, and issues related to COVID-19. This one-hour webinar hosted by the CAC high school interns can be used in the classroom to inform students about ballot access issues in the November elections.

• Got Ballot from iCivics takes students to the voting booth and explains what they might see on a typical ballot. Students will discover how voters have the opportunity to initiate change in state and local government.
• Becoming an Informed Voter: Creating Initiatives from the Center for Civic Education focuses on a voter’s need to be fully informed prior to casting a vote on Election Day and how to acquire the necessary information.
• Ballot Initiatives: Direct Democracy vs. Representative Democracy from the Citizen Advocacy Center poses the question, “How much of a direct say should citizens have in government decisions?”

• Illinois Civics has a lesson around Scientific vs Unscientific Polls.
• Explore how a handful of educators are touting the benefits of using math to teach civics, and vice versa, in this Education Week article, Math, The Most Powerful Civics Lesson You’ve Ever Had.
• PBS Learning Media has a lesson called Poll Dance that introduces students to important aspects of valid polling.
• PBS News Hour’s interactive Decoding Media Bias Lesson Plan teaches students how to critically analyze media sources on the government and politics.
• The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) has curated election resources to help students understand how to access, analyze, evaluate, create and act using all forms of media for full participation in a 21st-century democracy.
• Can Polls be Trusted? from C3 Teachers has students evaluate what polls are, how they are used, and how we are growing more confused by them.
• Destination White House from the National Constitution Center takes an in-depth look at presidential elections, specifically the role of television commercials in campaigning.
• You Be the Expert from Growing Voters has students use free online tools to ask their own questions and survey public opinion.
• The Living Room Candidate has an archive of political advertisements dating back to 1952.
• Confirmation and Other Biases from Facing History and Ourselves is a lesson that has students explore the ways in which biases affect news and information—how news is created and reported (by journalists and others) and how we interpret it.
• Polling Pitfalls from PBS News Hour Extra is a lesson plan that helps students understand polling practices and important aspects of valid polling.
• The Washington Post has curated political ads from the 2020 election cycle.
• The News Literacy Project has created Five Steps to Avoid Election Misinformation.
• Spot the Troll quiz from Clemson University asks students to examine images of real social media content and decide whether it’s from a legitimate account or an internet troll.
• iCivics has a lesson called Propaganda: What’s the Message?
• Congress, Civic Participation, and Primary Sources Projects from the Library of Congress provide young people with engaging and meaningful opportunities to learn about Congress and civic participation using primary sources from the Library’s online collections.
• Who Are My Representatives? from Teacher Vision provides students with the necessary tools to craft a letter or email to their local, state, and federal officials.
• Environment Illinois is a great resource for students who are interested in environmental issues.
• Why do American Newspapers Endorse Candidates? from VOA has students can choose regions within the state and then do online research to see which candidate the local newspaper is endorsing. Students can create a map of the state and shade in the party that the paper is endorsing in the election.
• It’s time for newspapers to stop endorsing presidential candidates is an editorial from The Hill that is ready to be used for a current and societal issue discussion around issues if bias and journalism.
• iCivics.org has some great resources for teaching about local and state government. They have lesson plans, games, and great resources by grade level. To prepare for local elections, check out The Capable County game, Who Represents Me Webquest, and The County Solution Action Plan.

• In the Illinois Civics lesson, Let’s Party: Understanding the Role of Political Parties, students explore the role of political parties and research various parties platforms.
• Looking for some online quizzes to match your students with candidates? Try iSideWith or ProCon.org.
• Issues Voting from C3 Teachers leads students through an investigation of policy voting, i.e. aligning their own beliefs with policies of political parties and candidates.
• Political Parties from C3 Teachers leads students through an investigation of political issues and political parties. Students consider their own political ideology as a lens for learning about the extent to which political parties address international and domestic issues.
• iCivics has a Candidate Report Card lesson. Students select the issues and qualities they care about, then research candidates running for the office to determine how the candidates rate, as they learn about the campaigns.
• IssueVoter.org keeps voters informed throughout the year on issues that matter most to them.
• Vote411 from the League of Women Voters connects individuals with tools to explore what’s on their ballot, check their voter registration, find their polling place and, discover upcoming debates in their area.

• There are Iowa Caucus classroom simulations from the Iowa Secretary of State, one for Democrats and another for Republicans.
• 270 to Win allows students to choose states on an interactive map to create their own election forecast. There are also maps related to congressional and state legislative elections.
• iCivics has created a three day Mock Election simulation. Students explain the steps taken from party formation to national election and act out the campaigning and voting process by simulating a real election in their own classroom.
• The iCivics online game Cast Your Vote has students discover what it takes to become an informed voter — from knowing where you stand on important issues to uncovering what you need to know about candidates.
• The iCivics online game Win The White House challenges students to build a presidential campaign by building arguments to support timely issues, strategically raise funds to support your campaign, keeping campaign momentum through targeted media campaigns and personal appearances, and polling local voters to see what issues resonate.

• Illinois Civics has a Voting at 16 lesson in which students engage in a Structured Academic controversy to deliberate lowering the voting age.
• CSPAN classroom’s Deliberations website provides in-depth lessons designed to engage students in debate about current issues, including topics related to elections.
• Above the Noise, a YouTube series from KQED for teens, cuts through the hype and dives deep into the research behind the issues affecting their daily lives. Every other Wednesday, the series investigates controversial subject matter to help young viewers draw informed conclusions while inspiring media literacy and civic engagement.
• ProCon.org has Lesson Plans: 2020 Election and Beyond that tackles issues like the electoral college and traces political issues throughout history.
• The Student Government Affairs program has research links and critical questions for a plethora of issues that often take center stage during election season.
• AllSides for Schools has materials for student deliberations.
• Debating the Electoral College is a lesson from KQED Learning that has students deliberate if it is time to reform the process of selecting the president.
• Appraising the Electoral College from the Bill of Rights Institute examines how the Electoral College functions and why the Framers thought it was a good idea. Student will view two videos debating whether the Electoral College works for the greater good, and explore historical election result maps.

The Great Debates website from the Museum of Broadcast Communications has ready to go curriculum that address topics including:

• Presidential Elections and Neutrality of the Media
• Political Candidates, Public Opinion and Social Media
• Presidential Campaigns:  The Influence of 150 Years of Media
• Presidential Debates, Leadership, and the COVID-19 Crisis
• Debates and Late Night TV

• In Growing Voters: 18 Ways Youth Under 18 Can Contribute to Elections, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) explores authentic actions young people can engage in to participate in elections.
• Mikva Challenge curated five lessons to help students take Elections to Action.
• Beyond the Ballot from Generation Citizen equips students to choose an issue to address in their community and seek out the appropriate elected official to address it.
• The Digital Civics Toolkit is a collection of resources for educators to support youth to explore, recognize, and take seriously the civic potentials of digital life.
• The Chicago Public Schools Social Science and Civic Engagement Department have create an independent digital civic action project around the question, How do we get people to vote?
• The Growing Voters lesson plan Kid-to-Kid has students learn by teaching. They develop and make a presentation on elections to younger grades of students in their schools or share online.
• In Growing Voters’ Electoral College Activity, students will be able to both learn and apply their understanding of the role and function of this element of our electoral system by creating infographics to inform others.
• Illinois Voting 101 from IllinoisCivics.org is a lesson plan that takes students through a digital breakout room to learn about voting in Illinois and then take informed action to share important information with their community through the creation of PSAs.
• With the help of their Student Advisory Board, iCivics has created a Students Power Elections Guide to help students learn about voting and elections independently. Once students have built knowledge with the guide, they can explore ways to engage with the elections — whether that’s through volunteering for a campaign, making their voice heard to candidates, or even just talking with family members and friends about the issues they care about most.
• Classrooms can organize a digital voter registration drive for high school seniors and other community members through a partnership with RegiStart.

• Political Parties: Two is Company, Three is a Crowd from PBS Learning Media has students examine the two-party political system in the United States and the effect third parties have had upon it.
• Facing History and Ourselves has a series of lessons in which students can learn about Susan B. Anthony’s brave actions that led to women’s suffrage, discover the role of race in US History, and discuss non-violent movements to obtain voting rights. ​
• Seize the Vote is an online game from the National Constitution Center that helps students learn all about voting rights throughout history.
• 270 to Win has a Historical Interactive Map that links to the results of historical elections, including a larger map, results, and synopsis of the race. An interactive version of each map is also available, letting you change history.
• Scholastic has collected a number of lesson plans related to the history of elections in the United States.
• The Great Debates website from the Musuem of Broadcast Communications has an interactive timeline dating back to 1924 with the first broadcast debates on the radio. The resource also houses an interactive page highlighting critical moments in televised debates dating back to 1960.

• A brief video from Why Tuesday? illustrates how the Iowa Caucuses work.
• PBS Learning Media has a lesson that explores the history of the Iowa Caucus and the benefits of being “first in the nation.”
• PBS NewsHour Extra has a lesson called “What are Primaries and Caucuses?”
• The Bill of Rights Institute has resources for “The Iowa Caucus and Beyond.”
• Civics 101 has an episode devoted to explaining primaries and caucuses.
• FiveThirtyEight launched a special series called The Primary Project. Its first episode features the 1968 Convention in Chicago and its impact on current events.
• Stranglehold from New Hampshire Public Radio explores the history, personalities, and challenges of being the site of the first in the nation primary election.
• Caucus Land from Iowa Public Radio explores, “Where the road to the White House begins!”
• The Electoral Process from iCivics takes a peek into the electoral process from party primaries to the general election.
• How the World Votes: The Iowa Caucuses and Voter Representation by Facing History and Ourselves provides teaching ideas to help students understand how the Iowa caucuses work, prompts them to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of voting in person at a caucus, and invites them to explore the question of whether Iowa should be the first state to vote in the presidential primary season.

• iCivics has a number of online games and lesson plans to help students navigate the Road to the White House.
• The Final Vote for President: Learning About the Electoral College from The New York Times is a lesson that explores America’s unique system of “indirect popular election,” in which majority votes at the state level serve as a guide — in some cases binding, in some cases not — for a final vote of 538 members of the Electoral College.
• The Electoral College TedED talk reviews the history of the Electoral College, including its effect on the outcome of past elections as well as how it’s run today.
• Crash Course Government and Politics has an Election Basics overview of how U.S. elections work.
• From Primary to General Election: Win the White House from Brain Pop Educators has students first watch the movie Presidential Election and then play Win the White House.
• New Hampshire Public Radio’s Civics 101 Ed Electoral College has published several resources and lesson plans to help students understand the general election and electoral college.
• Electoral Dysfunction – Classroom Edition is an award winning documentary that explores Constitutional provisions on voting and voting rights; the origins and present-day impact of the Electoral College; voter ID laws; ballot design; inconsistencies among America’s 13,000 voting jurisdictions; and reforms that would make elections fairer and more uniform.
• This Running for President infographic from iCivics provides a great overview of the road to the White House.
• The 270 to Win Presidential Simulator allows users to conduct a simulated presidential election. You can choose to have the map populate randomly or more east to west, based on actual poll closing times.
• Electoral Decoder from PBS Learning Media uses cartograms to explore all 58 past presidential elections from 1789-2016. Learn about the significance of the Electoral College by comparing the map and the electoral cartogram. Then, use the “Presidential Predictor” to try and decide the outcome of the next election.
• Debating the Electoral College from KQED has students analyze the role of the Electoral College in U.S. elections both historically and in the aftermath of the 2016 Election. Students will debate whether the Electoral College system should be reformed, and discuss ideas for potential changes.
• Should the Electoral College be Abolished? A Deliberation from Street Law has students engage in a Structured Academic Controversy to explore both sides of the question.
• The Bill of Rights Institute has several lessons around the Electoral College including a basic overview and a lesson Appraising the Electoral College addressing the question, “Should we abolish the Electoral College?”

Preparing Future Voters is a promise made by K12 school and district leaders to:

• Recognize the role of teaching about voting and elections in creating a more informed citizenry; and to
• Commit to strengthening civic instruction in their schools.

School leaders who sign the commitment will receive access to civic instruction lesson plans, resources, and opportunities to tap into the Teaching for Democracy Alliance (TFDA) collective network.

You can sign the Preparing Future Voters Commitment on the TFDA site.