Elections on the Web

It's an election year, and come November, students all over the nation will be participating in mock elections as they have for many elections over the years. What makes this year different? The World Wide Web, of course!

Howard Dean started it all by using his website for fund raising, creating the first candidate blog, and taking advantage of the “meet up” website to organize Dean rallies. Now, every campaign has a blog, and their websites usually include videos and campaign ads as well as press releases and position statements. Students can really get a sense of what it is like to run for elected office and have access to primary source documents that just were not available to educators in past elections. For information on the campaigns as well as links to candidates’ websites, visit an online news source like CNN’s Inside Politics or the Newshour with Jim Lehrer. For the high school students, don’t forget MTV’s website called Rock the Vote

But present-day politics is only one area in which the Web can be useful for history and social science teachers. For instance, the Federal Elections Commission includes historical election information including data on voter turnout and a description of the Electoral College. In addition, the Federal Register, which is part of the National Archives, includes box scores for all previous elections. Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids has a whole section on elections.

Of course, both major political parties have websites. The Democrats can be found at http://www.democrats.org and the Republicans make their web home at http://www.rnc.org/. What you might not realize is that there are lots of other political parties in the United States and the non-profit National Political Index provides a comprehensive list.

Integrating these web resources into the classroom helps provide authentic learning experiences for students. They can learn about how to “read” campaign ads, compare and contrast different program proposals, and even communicate with the candidates. Hop on the election express and enjoy the exciting ride to Election Day 2004!