This CCA@CCA Teaching Module offers materials and activities that help combat student skepticism about the power of voting. It was expanded and adapted for CCA students from a Periclean Voting Module.

The CCA Voting Coalition's "Why Voting Matters" presentation deck emphasizes the power of the youth vote to swing important elections and help combat the effects of voter suppression. The deck can be used independently, or paired with the activities below.

View the "Why Voting Matters" presentation deck →

Plus, read about contemporary voter suppression on the Brannan Center for Justice's website →

Write your thoughts on sticky notes and stick them on the classroom wall.

• How do the policies that elected officials develop impact you as a potential creative professional?
• What political or social issues do you care about? Are they on the ballot this year?
• Why might someone take voting for granted? Or choose not to vote?
• How much do you agree with the following statement? “Being concerned with national, state, and local issues is an important responsibility for everybody.”
• Why is voting important to you? To the campus community? To the state? To the nation? Why is it important globally?

Debrief in small groups or as a class.

• Did any comments surprise or resonate with anyone?
• Select a few responses to read and discuss with the class, or have students volunteer their own thoughts about why voting is important.
• Discuss the relationship between being a voter and the content you teach in class.

Students are more likely to research their ballots if they do it as a group or as part of an assignment. Here are helpful resources you can share with your students to help them prepare to vote:

• CCA's Voting Resources Portal Page
• CCA's Voter Registration Portal
• CCA students can book an appointment with the LRC for help registering to vote.
• Vote.org offers a tool for checking your registration status.
• Vote.org also has a tool to help people request absentee ballots.
• This table outlines when states mail out absentee ballots.
• US Vote Foundation helps people find out what candidates and issues are on their local ballot.
• SF.gov's Official Ballot Drop Box Locater; Alameda County's Office Ballot Drop Box Map
• Ballot Ready offers personalized, nonpartisan information to voters in all 50 states and helps voters make a plan to vote safely.
• Better Civics equips people with the knowledge of how the US government works at all levels.
• Fact Check monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by major US political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, etc.
• CCA's Guide to International Student Voting outlines how international students can participate in their home country's elections from the US.

• Distribute key election information via your course syllabus or on Moodle. ALL IN has drafted sample language for syllabi and Moodle announcements in in their guide to Nonpartisan Messaging & Tools for Faculty and Academic Affairs.
• Share key election dates by adding them to a slide at the start of your presentation deck
• Integrate the CCA@CCA Teaching Modules What is your voting story? or Why does voting matter? into your course plan
• Make arrangements so that no major assignments are due on Election Day or the day after
• Assign your class a CCA@CCA event to attend where they can learn about ballot issues
• Add a line to your email signature encouraging others to vote, e.g. “Are you ready for the Presidential Election? Make a voting plan.” Link to CCA’s Voting Resources page

Additional resources for CCA faculty:

• Voter Suppression Modules (Project Pericles)
• Voting Modules (Project Pericles)
• Conversation Guides on More Than 150 Topics (Living Room Conversations)
• The Institute for Democracy & Higher Education’s library of research and resources (Tufts University) Note: Be sure to check out their “Making Sense of…” series, which offers overviews of hot topics, such as Federal Elections and the Supreme Court, plus reading recommendations and discussion questions for faculty to use in their classrooms.
• SIFT Method for Evaluating Resources and Misinformation (University of Chicago Library Guides)
• How Faculty Can Continue to Keep Students Democratically Engaged (APSA)
• Facilitating Difficult Election Conversations (James Madison University)
• Teaching in Times of Strife & Trauma: Curated Resources with Actionable Ideas (Harvard Graduate School of Education)
• How can educators be ready to talk about politically charged topics in and beyond the classroom? (AAC&U)

The "Why Voting Matters" presentation deck draws on the following articles:

• The Youth Vote in 2022 (CIRCLE Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, Tufts)
• America's Electoral Future: The Coming Generational Transformation (The Center for American Progress)
• Why Every Vote Matters—The Elections Decided By A Single Vote (Or A Little More) (NPR)
• Turnout soared in 2020 as nearly two-thirds of eligible U.S. voters cast ballots for president (Pew Research Center)
• Poll: Despite Record Turnout, 80 Million Americans Didn't Vote. Here's Why (NPR)
• The 2020 Election by the Numbers (Council on Foreign Relations)
• CCA's 2022 NSLVE Campus Report and 2020 NSLVE Campus Report. NSLVE Reports break down CCA's student voting rates in federal elections.