Week 4- Level 1 Challenge Option: Registration Domination
REGISTRATION DOMINATION
As part of your student organization’s mission to promote civic engagement, you have set up a voter registration booth on campus at an Indiana public university. Your goal is to register five students as Indiana voters this morning. Will you meet your goal?
PREPARATION
- Skim the resources provided below to familiarize yourself with voter eligibility.
ACTION
- During the process of registering students to vote you should document if the individuals who approach you are eligible to vote. For each individual, you must provide the following information: if he or she eligible to vote in Indiana? Yes or no; Why he or she eligible or not eligible?; Which source did you use to determine eligibility? Complete the table below.
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Individual |
Yes or No |
Why? |
Source |
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A 19-year-old student who was born in the United States. |
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A 17-year-old student born in the United States who has lived overseas most of her life because her family is in the Foreign Service. |
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A 23-year-old student who tells you that she spent a year in prison for car theft. |
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A 19-year-old student who was born in Mexico. His parents are U.S. citizens. |
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A 19-year-old student from Brazil who says she has a green card. |
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A 20-year-old student who tells you that he was recently cited by campus police for underage drinking. |
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A student who wants to vote in his hometown in another state. |
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A student who is registered in her hometown in another state but wants to change to her college residence in order to vote in local elections. |
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A student who says she does not have a government-issued photo identification card. |
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2. Approach students (ask a faculty member if you can have some time before or after class; set up a booth on campus; approach students in the campus union; etc.) and get them to register. Spend approximately 1 hour trying to get five different students to register to vote. Utilize the table above, to document IF the students you approached in that amount of time are able to register. If they are, help them complete the registration process.
REFLECTION
Write a 2-page reflection covering the following:
- Were you able to meet your goal of registering five students? Explain.
- What did you learn about voter eligibility in Indiana that you did not know before?
- What are your thoughts on voter eligibility? Are the laws in Indiana too strict, too lenient, or just right? Explain your answer.
- Should ex-felons be allowed to regain voting rights after “repaying their debt” to society? Provide three reasons to justify your opinion.
RESOURCES
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Title |
The United States Constitution |
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URL |
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution.html Links to an external site. |
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Annotation |
This resource will help you to determine basic eligibility requirements. Specifically, you will need to refer to the 14th and 26th Amendments. |
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Title |
“Restricting the Vote”, Brennan Center for Justice website |
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URL |
http://www.brennancenter.org/issues/restricting-vote Links to an external site. |
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Annotation |
This resource is necessary because it provides information on recent voter restriction efforts and legislation that are aimed heavily at young, minority, elderly, and low-income voters, as well as voters with disabilities. You will find this page to be helpful, as well as some of the links on the menu on the right side of the page under the “Voter Eligibility” subheading. |
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Title |
Indiana Division of Elections website |
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URL |
http://www.in.gov/sos/elections/ Links to an external site. |
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Annotation |
This resource will help you to navigate the nuances of voter eligibility requirements in Indiana, which cannot be gleaned from the Constitution. Specifically, you will need to refer to the list of “Voter Registration” questions in the “Frequently Asked Questions” page of the website. |
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Title |
von Spakovsky, H. A. (2010). Don’t restore felons’ voting rights. The Heritage Foundation |
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URL |
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Annotation |
This resource will help you to respond to the reflection question regarding felons’ voting rights. As the title and sponsoring organization suggest, the opinion piece makes a case against restoring such rights. |
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Title |
Alterman, E. (2004). Think again? Is the right to vote a criminal matter? Center for American Progress |
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URL |
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Annotation |
This resource will help you to respond to the reflection question regarding felons’ voting rights. As the title and sponsoring organization suggest, the opinion piece makes a case for restoring such rights. |
RUBRIC
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No credit |
Below expectations |
Meets expectations |
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Eligibility |
The student correctly determines the eligibility of 6 or fewer individuals AND/OR most justifications are weak, inaccurate, or missing. |
The student correctly determines eligibility of only 7-8 individuals and justifies why each of those individuals are eligible to vote AND/OR some justifications are weak, inaccurate, or missing. |
The student correctly determines the voting eligibility of all 9 individuals and justifies why each of those 9 individuals are eligible to vote. |
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Resources |
The student correctly identifies the resource she used to determine eligibility for only 6 or fewer of the individuals. |
The student correctly identifies the resource s/he used to determine eligibility for only 7-8 of the individuals. |
For each of the 9 individuals, the student correctly identifies the resource s/he used to determine eligibility. |
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Reflection |
For the four reflection prompts, the student appears to simply answer the question and does provide evidence of thoughtful reflection OR the student does not respond to 1 or more of the reflection prompts. |
The student responds to all four reflection prompts, but some of the responses are not fully developed and appear to be lacking detail or thoughtful reflection. |
For each of the four reflection prompts, the student provides complete and thoughtful responses. |