ACTIVISM GUIDE:
MOCK ELECTIONS 2014
Introduction
Apathy is one of the greatest problems of our generation because as students, we often do
not feel that our voices are heard or that we can make much of a difference. Subsequently,
many youth today do not bother to care about the issues and can be afraid of expressing
their opinions.
While youth turnout was higher in 2012 than it has been in previous years, the youth vote is
still the lowest out of the voting population. Mock elections would be an appropriate forum
for students to inform themselves of and debate the issues, as well as get involved in and
excited for midterms.
Mock elections, with the help of an administration, are easier in that you do not have to
worry about attendance counts or getting other chapters to attend. You can often times
hold one on Election Day in the cafeteria or in history classrooms throughout the school.
This guide will provide you with tips to make the event a truly informative and engaging
experience.
In this packet, you will find the initiative how-to guide, sample flyers, ballots, tips, and
more for how to make your school’s mock elections successful. As always, the information
in this packet are merely general guidelines rather than strict protocols since chapters
should have the flexibility necessary to make this initiative a success. All links, resources,
documents, and contact information mentioned will be provided further in the packet.
I hope that you enjoy implementing mock elections in your school and getting involved this
election season.
Sincerely,
Joyce Xu
National Director of Activism 2014-2015
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Contents
How to Hold a Mock Election ..................... 3
FAQs/General Tips .................................... 4
Sample Flyer .............................................. 6
Sample Ballot ........................................................ 7
Additional Links and Resources ................. 8
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How to Hold a Mock Election
Step 1: Contact your administration
First and foremost, get permission from your school to hold a school-wide event. Schedule
a meeting with your school administrators as soon as possible and discuss with them the
values of a mock election and the importance of fighting apathy through the creation of a
discussion of the issues. Also, check if your school is planning on doing a mock election of
its own, and if so, see if your JSA chapter can cosponsor it. Conduct yourself in a
professional manner and make sure not to disrespect the administrators. Even if they don’t
allow you to hold a mandatory event in the auditorium or gym of your school, you always
have other options. While this event does not require that much planning or effort, it may
still take a while for the initiative to be approved, so it’s best to do this as soon as you can.
Step 2: Contact history/government/civics/social studies teachers and department heads
By contacting various teachers/department heads, you can find ways to build hype for the
election, as well as ways to stage debates surrounding the platform of the different political
parties. Also, you can ask to visit their classes for the first five minutes to promote the
election activity. Some teachers can even give incentives to students for them to vote, if you
do not choose to make the event mandatory. In addition, should you fail to get approval for
a mandatory mock election, you can ask the history department if they would take their
classes to the room the election is being held in and have their students vote.
Step 3: Order supplies for the event/Logistics
If you want your mock election to be as professional as it can be, you can go online and
order/rent voting booths to use on the day of the election. In addition, your chapter may
also be interested in ordering “I voted” stickers to provide to those that do vote. Your
chapter will have to decide how it wants to run the election. For example, many chapters
might opt for paper ballots to be counted up in person. However, if anyone in your chapter
is interested in creating a computer program, you can have an electronic voting system
within the booth to make counting easier and more realistic. Another easier electronic
option is to simply set up a Google form for students. You should also receive permission to
whichever facility you will be using to hold the election (gym, auditorium, cafeteria, etc.).
Step 4: Research your candidates
Provide information such as party, background, platform about the election candidates
either through daily announcements, flyers, social media, or any other medium to your
school prior to the event so that students know about the candidates they will be voting on.
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Step 5: Advertise the event
Post up fliers around school. Spread news through social media. If your school has morning
announcements, make sure to be a part of them. While you don’t necessarily need to have
a large advertising campaign, it is still good to have a few posters showing to build your
chapter’s reputation within your school.
Step 6: Election Day
Make sure to have volunteers signed up to help set up for the event. As early as possible,
set up the voting booths and ballots so students will be able to walk right in and vote. If
you are running an assembly (which might consist of a JSA style debate in front of the whole
school), you should have the logistics figured out at least a week in advance. Make sure
that all teachers and administrators are on board. When the school day is over (or whenever
the voting period is over), have volunteers count up the votes and determine the winner of
the election. Follow up through whichever announcement method is most used in your
school to inform students of who won the election (and compare it to the general election
results).
FAQs/General Tips

What do I talk with my school admins about?
If your event is approved, establish with your admins right away the date(s), times, and
location that the voting will be held in your school. This way, you can get started on
advertising and the rest of the planning immediately.

When and where could students vote?
There is no JSA-set date for mock elections, but it is recommended that you hold it on
Tuesday, November 4th to make it more legitimate, as that is the date of midterm elections.
You can always make the date earlier, but it is not recommended that you hold mock
elections after November 4th. Ideas for location include the cafeteria, library, gym,
auditorium, computer lab, or quad. Definitely have the booths open about half an hour
before school starts so that people who come to school early can vote in the mornings, and
you can even have the booths in front of your school in the morning so it’s very
conspicuous to students coming into school. In addition, make sure to have the booths
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open during breaks and lunch, as well as afterschool if you choose to extend the voting
period.

How do I build hype for the event?
There are various ways in which your chapter can build hype for the election. The first
would be to stage several pre-election events, such as debates. Have members of your
chapter write opinion pieces in your school newspaper debating the positions of the various
candidates. Use your contacts in the history/government department to have them debate
election issues within the classroom to help students make an informed decision on
November 4th. You can also have a public debate between the teachers before the election
to encourage students to get involved, political booths during lunch and breaks, and/or
hold an assembly where you can invite candidates or local politicians to come speak at your
school. Lastly, a really effective way to build hype is to get other clubs involved in the
planning and implementation of the Mock Election. The most obvious clubs are ones that
deal with politics or government, such as Model UN or student council, but also try to get
sports teams, band, and any other organizations involved as well to gain more excitement
for the event!

What should I bring to the event?
o Volunteers
o Laptops (if using online voting)
o Ballots (if using manual voting)
o Pens/Writing utensils
o School roster
o Brochures/flyers/pamphlets about candidates
o Educational material such as the “job descriptions” of each position, the various
party platforms, how elections/voting works, etc.
o Information about JSA (of course!)
o Candy to attract students
o OPTIONAL “I voted” stickers
o OPTIONAL voting booths

What happens after someone votes?
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You can give them candy and an “I voted” sticker. In addition, be sure to have educational
material, candidate information, and JSA information readily available if students are
interested.

What happens after the elections?
After election results are announced, have a member of your chapter write an article in the
school newspaper analyzing the results of the election. In addition, it will be very interesting
to compare the results from your school to the actual results of the election. Make sure to
keep track of the number of people that voted in your school and the election results of
your school, and send this information to your state Director of Activism.

What other things should I keep in mind?
Remind your volunteers to remain nonpartisan while students cast their votes; the whole
point of mock elections is to encourage students to have a voice and get involved, so make
sure the votes they give are truly their own. In addition, remember that voting should be
anonymous! While you should make sure everyone only votes once, forcing people to write
their names on their ballot may discourage many of them from sharing their opinions. An
alternative would be to have a list of everyone in school and just check students off once
they’ve voted to make sure that everyone only votes once. In addition, make sure there is
only one person in a “booth” at a time.

What is the “cheapest” way to run this election?
You definitely do not have to buy anything to set up this election, and probably the most
rudimentary way to set it up is through a Google Form. You can set up the voting process
through a simple Google Form in the computer lab or library, or bring your own laptops
from home and set them up on a table somewhere. If you do want to make it a little more
“official” and you want voting booths, then you could always just buy trifold boards and
decorate them instead of buying real voting booths. If you really want, you can borrow or
rent voting booths from your local elections office as well.
 Who should I contact if I have questions or concerns?
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You can always email me at [email protected], but definitely contact your state activism directors
first for help and questions! They are a wonderful resource and are all more than willing to
answer your questions and assist you in any way possible. 
Sample Flyer
*CHAPTER NAME* JSA PRESENTS…
MOCK ELECTIONS
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November 4th in the *LOCATION*
Come vote before school, during
brunch, lunch, or after school!
Sample Ballot
JSA Mock Midterm Elections Ballot
November 4th, 2014
Position
Position
Candidate Name
Candidate Name
Candidate Name
Candidate Name
Candidate Name
Candidate Name
Position
Candidate Name
Candidate Name
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Position
Candidate Name
Candidate Name
Candidate Name
Candidate Name
JSA Mock Midterm Elections Ballot
November 4th, 2014
Position
Position
Candidate Name
Candidate Name
Candidate Name
Candidate Name
Candidate Name
Candidate Name
Position
Position
Candidate Name
Candidate Name
Candidate Name
Candidate Name
Candidate Name
Candidate Name
Additional Links and Resources

Look up your Congressional district here: http://congressionaldistrict.findthebest.com/

Find the midterm candidates for your state here:
o http://ballotpedia.org/List_of_candidates_running_in_U.S._Congress_elections,_
2014
o https://www.opensecrets.org/races/
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o http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2013/Senate/senate_races.html

Find information about each candidate here:
o http://www.fec.gov/data/CandidateSummary.do
o http://vote-usa.org/forVoters.aspx

Election stickers: http://www.electionstickers.com/index.php (you can also just
make your own)

Voting booths: http://www.votingbooths.org/ (most of these are extremely pricey
other than the $7 cardboard one, so I recommend just buying trifold boards and
decorating it)

Voter Bill of Rights: http://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2014/general/en/pdf/voter-bill-ofrights.pdf

Political Party Purpose Statements:
http://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2014/general/en/pdf/political-party-statements-ofpurpose.pdf

Ballot templates:
http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/publishing/articles/95909.aspx
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