REGIONAL - It’s an age-old political battle cry, “Get the young people to vote!”

But how to encourage young voters to go to the polls, and make sure that this social media-dependent generation obtains accurate information on which to base their electoral decisions, remains the key challenge.

For most students, their first lessons on voting come in high school civics class. For most students at the North Woods School, near Cook, it’s a lesson they’ll hear from Jason Limp, one of the school’s social studies teachers.

“I teach it in two different ways,” said Limp. “Ninth grade versus upper classmen—those who could be voting for the first time. I tell them, ‘This is why we vote, this what happens when enough people don’t vote.’ For my ninth graders it is mostly just theory. For my upper classmen and those who could be voting, it is hands on. It’s how you register and what you need to know.”

Limp said seven students in the North Woods senior class are eligible to vote in next week’s election. He expects three or four of them will actually do so.

But for those three or four students who plan to vote, he admits it can be a big task wading through all of the noise of social media and other online sources, and students just can’t blindly walk into their voting stations. They need to know how to determine fact from fiction, he said.

“Look at reputable news sites, Fox, CNN, New York Times, etc.,” Limp said. “I don’t care if they are on the left or the right. I explain to them why these are good sites to go to. Sometimes they do get the information a little wrong, but in general I think our news sources do a good job.”

In class, Limp uses graphics that plot media bias to give his students some background knowledge as to the prevalent sources of information they may encounter online.

“When you read the article or the story, you can keep it in the back of your mind for context,” Limp said. “I don’t think we’ve gone through an article that doesn’t have some bias in it.”

Often, he said, he finds himself explaining to students why articles they bring to class aren’t necessarily true or don’t tell the whole story. In that case, Limp said, he walks the students through a process in order to critically examine articles from less reputable sources to balance them against larger media outlets with more accurate information.

“Identifying fake articles has been the hardest job in teaching kids about voting,” Limp said. “I have so many kids come up and ask about things they saw or their parents saw on Facebook.”

Part of the challenge, Limp acknowledges, is getting the students to read or watch the news outside of the classroom. For many, social media sites, like Facebook, become a substitute for real news.

College voting

By the time students get to college, political parties know most students are able to vote, and political engagement tends to be more organized and intense. Organizations, often led by students, play a larger role in getting out the vote as well as providing political information to students.

The Student Senate at Vermilion Community College in Ely again initiated a “Push Out the Vote” effort this fall to help students register and choose where they will vote, or to apply for an absentee ballot for the Nov. 6 midterm election.

Federal law helps determine where a college student can vote since most are eligible to vote either in their home district or in their school’s district, provided they choose only one.

“It can be really iffy for students to register when they are at school, or to vote back at home because they are up here,” said VCC Student Senate Secretary John Schaefer. “We thought this would be a great way to make it easier for all students to vote this year.”

A student attending VCC who is from another state is allowed to register as a Minnesota resident after living here for 20 days, he said.

During lunch periods for the past couple of weeks, VCC Student Senate members staffed a table in the cafeteria for students to get assistance with voter registration. “We collected the forms and they were mailed out by the school. The only thing the student had to do was fill out the form,” he said. “Turnout was super good. It turned out really well.”

VCC Student Senate President Elizabeth Rios said in just one 90-minute period last week she had as many as 45 voter registration forms filled out. “I was surprised by how many came out. The voter registration was better than in 2016. I think it came more from us students encouraging each other. Our future does depend basically on us Millennials.”

On Election Day next week, a shuttle van will be available for students to ride to the Ely polling location at the Senior Center.

Rios said climate change and the environment, along with disparities in the educational system are both high on her priority list when choosing candidates to vote for.

Coming from Texas, she said she felt she was not as prepared for college classes as many of the students she met from Minnesota and other Midwest states. “I’m in state and local government class this semester and I feel dumb as a rock at times. At least 80 percent of the students here are from northern states like Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa, and they understand what is going on and what is being taught. It really shows. There are three students from Florida in my class and they’re in the same situation that I’m in,” she said.

Schaefer said the hot topic for many VCC students is the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and the mining issue. “It is kind of split here at the college. I know a lot kids up here care very much for the protection and continued health of the Boundary Waters,” he said.

Abby Nordstrom, VCC Student Senate secretary, said the midterm election is very important with as many as 39 state governor positions up for election. “I feel like the 2016 election made people feel stronger in their positions,” she said. It is almost as if they have blinders on. Politically it is very divided. I think voter turnout could be very large this year.”

She also noted that the Trump administration’s recent tax plan could mean more changes to the Affordable Care Act. “That won’t affect me yet, until I’m 26, but it will impact many, many Americans,” she said.

Young election judges certified with veterans

Along with efforts to get out the vote at Vermilion Community College, municipal officials recognize that voting isn’t the only need at election time. The need for election judges is on the rise, and young people are the prime target to replace aging baby boomers and other older generations who make up the largest percentage of judges.

The city of Ely and Morse Township are again working on a joint election project with student election judges training along with area veterans for next week’s election.

The experiment was deemed a success in 2014 after a similar training session was held at the International Wolf Center through the efforts of Ely summer visitor Cole Kleitsch, director of Walking Civics, who paired up students and veterans together. “This could be used nationwide to up voter turnout for decades to come,” he said.

As many as 20 Ely-area students, age 16-18, and a like number of area military veterans, gathered Monday at the Ely Memorial School Media Center for the two-hour election judge training session.

“By including area veterans in the training, we link a generation that is looking to serve with another generation that knows something about it,” Kleitsch told the Timberjay. “Nowhere else in the country is this being done. Certain places are, of course, training young people, but nowhere else are they next to a veteran who knows something about service.”

He said the point of the session is to create a competent poll worker. As many as 30,000 election judges are used in Minnesota for every election. “Hopefully for the rest of your lives,” he told the students, “as a voter you will remember who you were next to when you learned to do this.”

The city of Ely uses as many as 20 election judges for each election and Morse Township will use as many as 15.

“In addition, this is a great way to help preserve a pool of election judges who have nobody following them.”

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon provided an exclusive videotaped message to the Ely training session participants thanking them for their civic-mindedness. “Those veterans that are in the room there helped us all to protect one of our fundamental rights– the right to vote,” he said.

Morse Township officials actually conducted the required testing of their voting equipment at the training session to give the students an actual hands-on look at what the process is all about.

Ely Clerk Treasurer Harold Langowski and Deputy Clerk Casey Velchef also participated in the training session. “We are actually interested in getting a couple of election judges that would be eligible after this training,” Langowski said.

Ely Memorial High School Principal Megan Anderson assured any of the students who wanted to help with the election that they would get a half-day pass to go to the voting poll at the Senior Center.

Morse Township Clerk Nick Wognum said many election judges are needed to make for a successful election day. “Most of them are over the age of 60. Some of them are over 70. You are the future. We need you. This year, in two years, in four years, whenever, we are going to need more election judges,” he said.