Lower School Students Elect New Fall Festival Booth Super Tuesday Style

With the Primary Presidential Elections quickly approaching, faculty and staff at Bush are educating students about the importance of voting, choosing candidates, and self-advocacy.
 

“Super Tuesday at Bush is similar to the Super Tuesday Primary Elections,” said Lower School Academic Dean Julie Barber. “I wanted to simulate what we do here in Washington with mail-in ballots.” 

Throughout the day, students cast their votes for the candidates of their choice, and then dropped off their ballots in one of the ballot boxes located on each floor of the Lower School. Ballot boxes were stationed in one of three spots –one the first floor, located right beside the double doors at the base of the stairs, the second-floor ballot box was placed near Third Grade near the wooden risers, and the third-floor ballot box sat on one of the big wooden tables in the landing area.

“Whatever the top two booths are for the primary election will be selected for head-to-head voting on Tuesday, November 5,” Julie said. “We’ll have a final election where booths will also be set up for in-person voting.”

During this process, Lower School students learned who can register to be a voter, the difference between primary and final voting, and debating. Third Grade students were also given roles on the Board of Elections, where they were tasked with checking each registration for the proper merits.

“When the students filled out their voter registration, they had to answer questions similar to the Washington State registration,” Julie informed. “They were asked questions like: ‘are you a student in K-5, yes or no’. Teachers would even try to sneak in with their registration, and the student Board of Elections would have to weed out those that weren’t eligible.”

Faculty have also implemented creative math extensions around tallying and aim to integrate multiple subjects through this activity. Second Grade students, who have learned graphing, created visuals to show the results of the primary elections to the community.

“We’re also going to have a debate,” Julie said. “The students will hear the pros and cons of the final two candidates, which will simulate the presidential campaigns.”

Bush Super Tuesday offers students the chance to make a difference at their level while learning how changes occur in our own government system. Bush faculty believes Lower School Students should understand the importance of self-advocacy and democracy during the buzz of election time.