hey there my name is Kaeleigh and today we're going to talk about one of the
most important rights as a citizen of the united states
the right to vote
in the united states most citizens over the age of 18
have the right to vote in elections voting is not just a right
it's also a responsibility so what is voting
voting is when a group of people decide on something
by saying what they want once everyone has said what they wanted
the answers are counted and typically the majority
or whatever idea has the most votes wins you have small votes all the time when
your family decides on a restaurant for dinner or your friends decide which game
to play we typically decide to do the thing that
most people want to do
in the united states we vote in elections
an election is the process of voting to choose someone
to be the political leader or the representative of the people
in a government remember the us is a representative democracy
so we typically vote for people who share our beliefs
the representatives will then vote on laws and make decisions on issues for
the rest of the citizens voting in elections is the main way
citizens have a say in how the country is governed or ruled
to win an election politicians have to persuade people to vote for them
politicians tend to belong to a political party
in the united states we have a two-party system
which means we have two main political parties
the democrats and the republicans democrats and republicans
usually have very different ideas on how problems should be solved by the
government
each political party has a set of policies
or beliefs that help them make their decisions
politicians tend to belong to either the democrat or the republican
party each political party will prepare a list of
policies that the politician promises to carry out if elected by the voters
this list of promises is called a politician's
platform then the politicians will give speeches about
their platform they have debates with other politicians
and they run advertisements to convince voters to vote for them
this is called campaigning politicians who are running for office can campaign
for a long time sometimes even years before the actual
voting takes place before a person can vote they need to
register to vote people register to vote by
filling out a form with their name address and other
personal information registering to vote ensures that people
vote in the right place registering to vote in the right
town or city is important it's important because most elections
you vote for politicians who work for the entire country
just your state and even just your town also it's important to know when your
town's local elections are being held this is how you vote for your mayor and
how local taxes will be spent there are some laws about voting that
are true everywhere in the country a voter must be a u.s citizen and
at least 18 years old on the election date
it doesn't cost anything to register to vote and
voting is voluntary this means you can't be forced to vote
and it's illegal to force someone not to vote
and each person can only vote once per election
but some voting laws vary by state in most states convicted felons do not
have the right to vote that means people who have committed
crimes and are in prison cannot vote and in some states people
who have even been released from prison are still not allowed to vote
elections happen at different times during the year
but when it is an election day most people go to a polling place to vote
a polling place is usually a public building like
a school or a library voters can only vote at polling places
within their precinct or their hometown the voters show up to the polling place
show identification to the poll worker and are then given the materials to vote
like a ballot a ballot is a piece of paper that has
all the candidates the voters can choose from
on the ballot you will find the politicians that are running for office
the type of office they are running for will depend on what type of election
is going on elections can range from local politics like
mayor and town council or at the state level like governor
and the senators and representatives all the way up to the national level
like voting for the president
even though the united states is a representative democracy
there are ballot measures that citizens vote on
a ballot measure is a law issue or question on a ballot
for the voter to decide on typically these have to do with things like taxes
for example some states have voted on a ballot measure
to tax gasoline for cars at a higher rate
the states use this tax money to provide public transportation
fix roads and provide other public services
these days most people fill out their ballot by touching a computer screen
or writing on a piece of paper that can be read
by a computer
people can also vote by mail this is called an
absentee ballot voters use absentee ballots if they're not able to go to
their polling place on election day this is useful for people who have jobs
or will be away from their hometown on election day
once the election deadline is passed voters can no longer vote in the
election poll workers and election officials then
count all of the votes usually they get help
counting from computers too
once all the ballots have been counted the candidate with the most votes is
declared the winner now you know the gist of how elections
and voting and elections work in the united states practice what
you've learned by doing the online games and quizzes
have fun and remember to always be
clever