Helpful Websites
Below is a list of websites that teachers statewide have suggested might be helpful during election season. If you have suggestions for additional sites, please email youthvoice@ymcanorth.org.
Information & Content
C-SPAN Classroom - Explanations of the various aspects of the election process for candidates vying to become the next President. Separated into 10 main areas, each topic is supplemented with related video clips, discussion questions, handouts, and culminating activities to reinforce students' learning.
Education World Presidential Elections - A compilation of Web sites for grades K-12 that provide non-partisan, age-appropriate information about presidential elections, along with games, lessons, printables, and interactive tools.
Fact Check - A nonpartisan, nonprofit site that monitors the accuracy of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases to increase public knowledge and understanding.
League of Women Voters of Minnesota - Vote411 is a one-stop voter guide available in English and Spanish. All 7,000+ candidates (except judges) running in Minnesota’s General Election are available in the voter guide.
Minnesota Secretary of State - The Secretary of State is responsible for overseeing statewide elections and operating the statewide voter registration system.
MPR News Voter Help Desk - Tools and resources to help learn about the upcoming election including candidate quizzes and Minnesota voter guides.
National Archives Electoral College guide - Information about the Electoral College process by which the United States elects the President.
PBS Election Central - Content to educate your students on the process and history of elections including campaigning, local impact of national issues, how the Electoral college works, fast facts and an interactive, activity-based map, these tools help turn news coverage into learning opportunities.
Politifact - A fact-checking website that rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials and others who speak up in American politics. PolitiFact is run by editors and reporters from the Tampa Bay Times, an independent newspaper in Florida.
ProCon - Promoting critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, primarily pro-con format.
ReadWorks - Research-based units, lessons, and authentic, leveled non-fiction and literary passages. Search for words like "elections," "voting," or "citizen" for leveled passages on relevant topics.
Student News Daily - A non-profit current events website for high school students.
Teaching Civics - Supports educators with an ever-growing repository of current, professionally vetted, and unbiased civics, law-related education, and government lesson plans and materials.
Teaching Tolerance - A site dedicated to helping teachers and schools educate children and youth to be active participants in a diverse democracy.
USA.gov/voting - Basic facts about voting and elections, including midterm congressional, state and local elections.
USA.gov/states and territories - Resources to look up your state's elected officials at all levels of government.
Vote Smart - A nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States.
Tools to Engage Students
270 To Win - An interactive map to create election forecasts or monitor results on Election Day.
Cartoons for the Classroom - A site created by the The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists to aid educators at all levels in teaching history, economics, social studies and current events.
iCivics - Free resources include print-and-go lesson plans, interactive digital tools, and award-winning games.
I Side With - An online quiz to see which candidate align most closely with your personal values.
The Living Room Candidate - Presidential campaign commercials from 1952 to 2016
PBS Election Center Debates - There are specific skills required to perform well in a debate. The ability to make a case, communicate points of view, respond to questions and clearly articulate solutions are life skills that begin in the classroom.
People-Press - An online quiz to find out which Political Typology group is the best match compared with a national survey of over 10,000 U.S. adults conducted by the Pew Research Center.
Minnesota Secretary of State - A guide for educators to provide an opportunity for their students who are 18-years-old to register to vote or their students who are 16- or 17-years-old to pre-register to vote.
This page is maintained by the YMCA Center for Youth Voice. Links to other internet sites are provided for informational purposes only. The YMCA Center for Youth Voice is in no way responsible for the content of these sites and their presence on this page should not be construed as an endorsement.