Youthful service

Colorado student judge program a boon for democracy

Rocky Mountain News

Published June 11, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Recruiting high school students to serve as election judges when Colorado votes in this November's general election strikes us as one of those "why didn't somebody think of this sooner" ideas.

Yes, there's a practical side to using students in a program adopted by the legislature in 2000. Necessity - as in the declining pool of senior citizens willing and able to commit to the 14-hour election day, not to mention the limited number who are comfortable with today's technology - is once again mother to innovation.

But aggressively recruiting high school students for this important role, given adequate supervision by experienced judges, would be a good idea even if the need were not so great.

Election judges, or poll workers as they're also known, keep operations running smoothly at polling places. They ensure that only registered voters participate and that each voter is voting in his or her assigned precinct. They make or break elections, county clerks say.

Colorado allows any high school junior or senior in good academic standing who's a U.S. citizen, at least 16 on Election Day, attends training sessions and is willing to work throughout the time the polls are open to apply to become a student election judge. Student judges can receive community service or academic credit and are paid for their service, just like adult judges.

Utilizing high school students in this critical way has many benefits beyond simply meeting the demand for enough eyes, ears and hands on Election Day.

Actively encouraging teens to participate in the electoral process - even before they are old enough to vote - engages them in democracy at work and exposes them to this essential component of civic life in a way no class, teacher, book, film or lecture ever could.

It has been 40 years since the percentage of America's voting-age population casting votes in a presidential election exceeded 60 percent. What better way to increase voter registration and voter participation than to allow high school students to become involved in a meaningful way before they're old enough to vote?

Beyond the practical civics lesson, there is an even greater benefit to welcoming high school students as election judges. By asking their help and listening to their suggestions for ways to make Election Day run more smoothly, we are extending to these young people a level of respect and trust that surely can only reinforce their sense of responsibility.

Every county looks for student judges, but Douglas County may have the state's most visible program. Clerk and Recorder Jack Arrowsmith and the Douglas County School District, under the leadership of Superintendent Jim Christensen, are working together to recruit more than 200 student election judges - or one-fourth of the judges who will staff polling places countywide.

The school district has agreed to close its high schools on Election Day so that the campuses can be used as precinct sites and to enable students to be available for work when the polls are open.

This partnership is a model that we urge county clerks and school districts throughout Colorado to follow.

• June 11, 2008

  7:10 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  VVVV writes:

  This is almost as bad as the fact that you can be drafted to die for your country but can't drink in it. You can be asked to work a polling place but can't vote yourself? No matter how you paint it, I call it exploitation.

  I think the students should enjoy their time off, sleep in, play video games, live it up, since it's only fair that when you aren't given the same freedoms of adults, you shouldn't have the responsibilities of adults.

• June 11, 2008

  7:30 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  thats_just_me writes:

  I think it is a wonderful idea. Both my daughter and I regret that she will only be a sophmore and not quite 16 to qualify this year.

  I don't think that CD will close their schools because 200 kids will be working the polls. They don't close the schools when the kids leave school to compete.

  While I do not have the details, I would assume (always a danger, I know) that the students will be required to meet academic standards to qualify to participate.

• June 11, 2008

  8:05 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  anarchist writes:

  VVVV, care for some cheese to go with your whine? Following the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, many states set the MLDA at 21 (and in some cases 18 for the purchase of beer). During the 1960s and 1970s, many states lowered the MLDA in response to growing political liberalism and Vietnam war-era arguments that the drinking age should parallel the draft age of 18. Subsequently: In 1982, prompted by evidence linking younger drinking ages with increased alcohol-related highway deaths among youths, President Ronald Reagan appointed a Presidential Commission on Drunk Driving. Its top recommendation was the passage of federal legislation to require all states to raise the MLDA to 21.
  In 1984, 23 states had minimum alcohol purchasing ages of 21 years old, and on July 17th of that year, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation to withhold federal highway funds from the remaining 27 states if they did not follow suit.
  The age-21 MLDA was universally adopted nationwide as of July 1, 1998, when Wyoming became the last state to raise its drinking age to 21.
  In summation,you still have the right to vote at 18 and to enter legal contracts, as long as you act resposibly, or you may lose that also.

• June 11, 2008

  1:44 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  mozillauser writes:

  @WWW:

  I think this is quite different than the drinking age question. The students are not being forced to work as election judges, but may participate (and get paid, etc.) if they so choose. They face no penalty for not participating, other than perhaps missed experience. For the question of military service vs. drinking, if a draft comes up, there is no way to opt out.

  @anarchist:

  So basically, you're saying that a minority of states had seen it fit to leave the MLDA at 21 (implying the majority saw benefit in setting it to 18) before the federal highway funds maneuver. I suppose the real test would be to repeal the disincentive and watch how many states think it was better to have our younger adults have a gradual introduction (via 3.2 beer and the like) rather than a binge introduction.

• June 11, 2008

  3:12 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  anarchist writes:

  mozillauser, I am pointing out that at one time it was legal to drink at 18, Government intrusion, and studies by special interest groups (MADD et.al.)lobbied for a change due to the high death rates, it fits in with governments " for the greater good" agenda, and definatly not the first time a minority has dictated to the majority in this country. As to binge introduction,would a gallon of 3.2 beer be less of a binge than 6, no matter the age of the consumer of that amount? If WWW has such a problem with the legal drinking age, perhaps (s)he should become involved in politics and a movement to change it again to 18, but that would require more effort than sleeping in and playing video games, wouldn't it?
  I do agree with you concerning that to volunteer and then act an election judge isn't exploitation, but perhaps a lesson in civics put to practical application. It would also show a level of maturity on thier part that they could be intrusted with , as WWW put it, "adult" responsibility.

• June 12, 2008

  4:38 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  mozillauser writes:

  @anarchist

  Point taken. Definitely some "nanny state" (as it is often referred to on the RMN forums) coming from the Reagan years in this regard.

  As far as the binge question - I was trying to be clever by using the "unrestrained" meaning of the word rather than specifically talking about binge drinking, so I'll chalk that up to a failure on my part. To your question though, I think drinking a gallon of anything all at once (alcoholic or not) would be an activity worthy of being called a binge.

  As a note, VVVV posting a position publicly is an involvement in politics, just not necessarily the most effective one.

  Also, I realize I misread VVVV as WWW and hereby apologize for the mislabel on the previous post.

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