Students create election guide for the community

October 24, 2018 —Excelsior Springs High School’s U.S. Government class members recently compiled a nonpartisan voters’ guide to help break down ballot language for community voters and assist them in learning candidates’ views on subjects important to Excelsior Springs.
Julie Nelson said as her class entered a unit concerning the role of political parties, interest groups and how community members can influence policymaking, her class discussed how to increase local voter turnout.
The class noticed local voters don’t seem as excited about local elections, Nelson said, even though they may directly impact Excelsior Springs.
Nelson said after learning about political ideologies and taking online questionnaires to learn their potential political parties, she broke them into groups representing all ideologies.
The class then decided which issues would more directly impact the Excelsior Springs community.
“I gave them a template and they picked their contrasting issues based upon what they thought voters in Excelsior Springs would be passionate about,” Nelson said.
The class wanted to provide education in order to increase voter turnout, she said. Many people turn out for federal offices but don’t seem as excited during local elections, which may have more of an impact on the community.
Students will be on hand in the ESHS Commons from 2-7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 25. They invite anyone in the community who would like more information to attend.