The Great Electoral Race is back!
This Labor Day (2020) through Election Day (2020), youth age 13-24 are invited to participate in Mikva’s Great Electoral Race – a digital scavenger hunt made up of 51 Challenges designed to help youth make their voices heard in the 2020 election (and empower their communities to do the same).
Each Challenge is named after a US state (and is worth as many points as that state has Electoral College votes). Youth complete Challenges using their Instagram accounts and track their progress to 270 at greatelectoralrace.com (coming soon) to earn points and win prizes.
Want more? Get informed, connected and equipped to make an impact on this historic 2020 election with our resources and opportunities! See all of Mikva’s 2020 Election Resources and Opportunities.
——————-
Great Electoral Race 2016:
“Where else [but campaigns] could I find such openness, excitement and hope? I was hooked. And I’ve stayed hooked on campaigns to this day. Despite all their faults, campaigns are based on the fact that every vote counts, and therefore every person counts. As free standing societies, they are more open than academia, more idealistic than corporations, more unifying than religions, and more accessible than government itself. Campaign season is the only time of public debate about what we want for the future. It can change consciousness even more than who gets elected.In short, campaigns may be the closest thing we have to democracy itself.”
~Gloria Steinem, My Life on the Road
Calling all middle and high school teachers/adult allies!
Are you hoping to engage your 6th-12th grade students this fall in:
- Exploring their own political ideologies and respectfully discussing them with others?
- Organizing a voter registration drive?
- Deconstructing political ads and how the media covers campaigns?
- Hosting a debate watch party?
- Researching and evaluating candidates’ positions on issues youth care about?
- Campaigning for candidates running for local/state/national office in your community?
- Serving as Student Election Judges?
No matter which, how few or how many of these electoral actions may already be planning to take on with your students this fall, Mikva Challenge enthusiastically invites you to share these creations and conversations with America via our Great Electoral Race – and thereby #changethestory of the impact youth will have on Election 2016.
This interactive digital competition (running Labor Day – Election Day) asks students to work in teams and use their favorite social media platforms to complete any of 51+ electoral Challenges to earn points and win prizes.
Challenges range from light and easy (Record a teammate answering question “How would the United States be different if more young people participated in elections?”) to more complex (“Organize a debate watch party at your school!”), but all are designed to:
- Provide teachers with engaging resources, opportunities and ideas (some new and some familiar) to bring various aspects of Election 2016 into the classroom
- Bring youth voices, issues and energy to the forefront of an historic election season
- Encourage connections, communication and civil discourse among youth from different communities across the nation
- Empower youth to become informed about and engaged in the election in fun and creative ways
Best of all? We’ll be here throughout to support your efforts with free curriculum, offers to thought-partner on your chosen Challenges, AND help sharing the work your students create.
Curious to learn more? Click HERE to read How to Play or HERE to see the Challenges.
Questions? Check out the Teacher FAQs page of the site HERE or email us at greatelectoralrace@gmail.com.
