Today, only three states have enacted laws that voting rights groups argue foster lifelong civic engagement among the nation’s historically underrepresented group: Youth. These policies – implemented in Hawaii, Florida, and most recently, North Carolina – provide an opportunity for 16 and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote. However, merely providing preregistration opportunities is not enough to instill democratic participation in new voters. Such policies could be more effective when accompanied with education on how to be enfranchised, Florida policymakers say, and they hope to make the state a flagship for improved, youth-oriented election reform in 2010.
Project Vote has worked alongside Florida policymakers in order to expand and improve upon current preregistration policies within the state in the coming legislative session. Senator Mike Fasano and Representative Ronald Brisé have prefiled the identical “Student Voter Education” Senate Bill 524 and House Bill 407. The state convenes for the 2010 session in March.The prefiled Student Voter Education bill provide for a voter education program, requiring that each district school board and county supervisor of elections to jointly provide the program for high school students who are eligible to register or preregister to vote. It also requires that such education consist of a mandatory presentation made by the supervisor of elections to public high school students who are eligible to register or preregister to vote.
The Student Voter Education bill is important, not only to Florida, but possibly to the entire country. In a recent blog entry, FairVote’s Adam Fogel wrote that “the Florida bill requiring election administrators and school officials to work together has the potential to serve as a model for the rest of the country as the best way to maximize voter registration opportunities under our current voter registration system.”
While Florida has an administrative rule by the Department of State, Division of Elections governing the preregistration of students, it requires that each public high school conduct a voter registration and education program at least once a year, and that the program must be developed in cooperation with the local school board for “maximum effectiveness.” The Student Voter Education bill not only codifies this rule but makes up for current shortfalls by requiring the supervisor of elections and the school board to preregister the 16 and 17-year-olds who slip through the cracks due to the fact that most programs only register 18-year-old seniors.
The bill also clearly establishes a relationship between the supervisor of elections and the district school board, which is lacking in some counties, and defines what the supervisor of elections will teach, including how to register and preregister to vote, the operation of voting machines, when and where to vote, voter identification requirements, and the importance of voting, which are not defined by the rule.
Because this bill would codify a part of a similar administrative rule regarding voter education for public high school students, additional costs may be incurred. However, according to the 2009 Voter Education Programs Report for the 2008 Election Cycle by the Division of Elections, the supervisors of elections reported spending $398,000 for school outreach programs and, of that amount, 87 percent were from other county funds. The report does not mention specifically how much money was spent on high school outreach programs, the contents of these programs, and in which counties these programs were conducted.
Today, roughly $400,000 of taxpayer money is funding school outreach programs, about which little is known. The Student Voter Education bill provides that funding is allocated to a structured and clearly outlined program that preregisters all eligible high school students, allowing supervisors, teachers, and institutions to reach the “maximum effectiveness” in registering, preregistering, and educating Florida youth, as the law originally intended. This effort will help ensure that Florida’s future voters not only can cast a ballot, but also know the importance of why they are casting it.