This is an example of a fully-formed Challenge. If your proposal is selected, your fully-formed Challenge will be due on July 1st.
Objective
To analyze different forms of political participation
Title
Voting Registration Challenge
Instructions
As
part of your student organization’s mission to promote civic
engagement, you have set up a voter registration booth on campus at a
Florida public university. Your goal is to register five students as
Florida voters this morning. Will you meet your goal?
The individuals below approach your booth to register:
- A 19-year-old student who was born in the United States.
- A 17-year-old student born in the United States who has lived overseas most of her life because her family is in the Foreign Service.
- A 23-year-old student who tells you that she spent a year in prison for car theft.
- A 19-year-old student who was born in Mexico. His parents are U.S. citizens.
- A 19-year-old student from Brazil who says she has a green card.
- A 20-year-old student who tells you that he was recently cited by campus police for underage drinking.
- A student who wants to vote in his hometown in another state.
- A student who is registered in her hometown but wants to change to her college residence in order to vote in local elections.
- A student who says she does not have a government-issued photo identification card.
For each individual, provide the following information:
- Is he or she eligible? Yes or no.
- Why is he or she eligible or not eligible?
- Which Civic Library resource did you use to determine eligibility?
Final reflection:
- Were you able to meet your goal of registering five students? Explain.
- What did you learn about voter eligibility in Florida that you did not know before?
- What are your thoughts on voter eligibility? Are the laws in Florida too strict, too lenient, or just right? Explain your answer.
- Should ex-felons be allowed to regain voting rights after “repaying their debt” to society? Provide three reasons to justify your opinion.
Multimedia Resource 1
Primary source: The United States Constitution < http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/
This resource is necessary in order for students to determine basic eligibility requirements. Specifically, students will need to refer to the 14th and 26th Amendments.
Multimedia Resource 2
Web resource: Brennan Center for Justice website <http://www.brennancenter.org/
This resource is necessary because it provides information on recent voter restriction efforts and legislation that are aimed heavily at young, minority, elderly, and low-income voters, as well as voters with disabilities. Students will find this short essay to be helpful, as well as some of the links on the menu on the right side of the page under the “Voter Eligibility” subheading.
Multimedia Resource 3
Web resource: Florida Division of Elections website <http://election.dos.state.fl.us/
This resource is necessary in order for students to navigate the nuances of voter eligibility requirements in Florida, which cannot be gleaned from the Constitution or the more general Brennan Center for Justice website. Specifically, students will need to refer to the list of “Voter Registration” questions in the “Frequently Asked Questions” page of the website.
Fourth resource
Opinion: von Spakovsky, H. A. (2010). Don’t restore felons’ voting rights. The Heritage Foundation <http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2010/01/dont-restore-felons-voting-rights>
This resource is necessary in order for students to respond to the reflection question regarding felons’ voting rights. As the title and sponsoring organization suggest, the opinion piece makes a case against restoring such rights.
Fifth resource
Opinion: Alterman, E. (2004). Think again? Is the right to vote a criminal matter? Center for American progress <http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/opegovernment/news
This resource is necessary in order for students to respond to the reflection question regarding felons’ voting rights. As the title and sponsoring organization suggest, the opinion piece makes a case for restoring such rights.
Rubric
No credit
|
Below expectations
|
Meets expectations
|
|
Eligibility
|
The
student correctly determines the eligibility of 6 or fewer individuals AND/OR
most justifications are weak, inaccurate, or missing.
|
The
student correctly determines eligibility of only 7-8 individuals and
justifies why each of those individuals are eligible to vote AND/OR some
justifications are weak, inaccurate, or missing.
|
The
student correctly determines the voting eligibility of all 9 individuals and
justifies why each of those 9 individuals are eligible to vote.
|
Civic Library
|
The
student correctly identifies the Civic Library resource s/he used to
determine eligibility for only 6 or fewer of the individuals.
|
The
student correctly identifies the Civic Library resource s/he used to
determine eligibility for only 7-8 of the individuals.
|
For
each of the 9 individuals, the student correctly identifies the Civic Library
resource s/he used to determine eligibility.
|
Final reflection
|
For
the four reflection prompts, the student appears to simply answer the
question and does provide evidence of thoughtful reflection OR the student
does not respond to 1 or more of the reflection prompts.
|
The
student responds to all four reflection prompts, but some of the responses
are not fully developed and appear to be lacking detail or thoughtful reflection.
|
For
each of the four reflection prompts, the student provides complete and
thoughtful responses.
|
