Media Partnership

"The media reports were all very good. For a change reporters were in a school where there hadn't been a drug raid or a knifing - instead, young people were voting!"

-- Maryland Department of Education

"Among the basic principles of learning are motivation and reward. Young people gain much greater interest and motivation in activities that get wide recognition. To see that their activities are recognized by the national news media is... exciting and stimulating", the late Ralph W. Tyler, Director Emeritus, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences wrote about the National Student/Parent Mock Election. The National Student/Parent Mock Election and our media partners work together to provide the motivation and reward the students seek.

Mock Election Day is scheduled five days prior to regular elections for a very important reason: the Mock Election wants to make sure that this national event belongs to the students. Student votes and student voices count on this very special day. The purpose is not to predict possible outcomes in the real election but to familiarize, excite, involve, and mobilize all generations of Americans to express their faith in their democracy with their vote.

How Can the Media Become a Partner in the National Student/Parent Mock Election?

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• Contact Us to express your interest and we will notify your state's coordinator and ask that he or she contact you immediately.
   

• Host the local "Election Headquarters" where votes are collected.
   

• Co-host an organizational meeting, a conference of educators, parents, student and community leaders, a voter education event, a candidate's forum, etc.
   

• Help your local school districts and others put together a steering committee that will support their efforts with the resources that will make possible a full-scale effort.
   

• Contribute Public Service Announcements to alert educators, students, and parents to the opportunity to join millions of students and parents across the country and around the world in the Mock Election at no cost.
   

• Host candidate forums that allow young voters and their families to meet and question candidates, station personnel, and community leaders.
   

• Use your election coverage and public affairs programs as the springboard for student/parent discussions of national issues prior to casting their national "recommendation" votes.
   

• Provide speakers for local groups who can explain how television picks the winners, how newscasters prepare for interviews and cover campaigns, etc.

• Invite local Mock Election organizers and students to appear as guests for a panel discussion and interview shows.
   

• Work with your local school Superintendent and/or State Department of Education or Public Instruction to plan a community effort, including private and parochial schools, civic organizations, etc.
   

• Provide recognition for local student/parent debates and other events through news coverage that shares the events with the entire community.
   

• Work with local social studies teachers and administrators to design television games and TV/classroom activities that support the Mock Election.
   

• Invite selected students to observe newscasters in candidate interviews and, perhaps, to participate in panels for such interviews.
   

• Adopt a school and work with the faculty to help students, teachers and parents plan their Mock Election events.
   

• Help to organize and publicize local Mock Election TV contests and recognize students who turn in winning entries.
   

• Encourage local citizenship education and Mock Election activities with station fairs, polls, career education opportunities for future journalists and politicians, and the like.

In the end, it is the individual votes that count. Through educating the public and involving students and parents in the electoral process, the National Student/Parent Mock Election is making very real progress in the march toward participatory democracy. Your help is greatly appreciated!