Wisconsin Elections Commission: WEC launches election education video series

MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Elections Fee is proud to announce the launch of an election training video collection, “Elections 101,” that can assist inform highschool college students and the general public about how voting works in Wisconsin.

The launch of the WEC video collection is a direct response to the elevated public want for details about Wisconsin’s election system.

The four-part video collection supplies an outline of Wisconsin’s system of election administration, in addition to a better take a look at elementary parts of voting, akin to registration, casting an absentee poll, voting on the polls, and the way Wisconsin retains elections safe.

The four-part video collection is offered for the general public to view on the WEC’s web site at elections.wi.gov/101.

Beginning Monday, Sept. 26, the WEC, with the help of the Division of Public Instruction, is making the four-video collection accessible to be used by highschool educators throughout the state.

For the classroom portion of the undertaking, the WEC partnered with DPI to make sure the undertaking would meet state instructional requirements and be disseminated broadly. Officers at DPI developed a lesson plan for every video to help lecturers of their school rooms. The lesson plans can be found for public viewing on the elections.wi.gov/101 net web page.

“These movies will give highschool college students and most people a complete take a look at the basics of voting and working elections in our state,” stated WEC Administrator Meagan Wolfe. “We hope this undertaking will assist instill larger confidence in elections and voting amongst all generations of Wisconsinites.”

The WEC hopes as many lecturers as attainable select to include the video collection and accompanying lesson plans into their civics curriculum, which is able to assist put together college students who wish to higher perceive and interact of their democracy. Whereas the WEC is launching the movies for college students and the general public to have interaction with earlier than the November Basic Election, the movies are meant for use for years to return.

The four-part video collection contains an election overview, adopted by movies on the “nuts and bolts” of the election course of, election safety, and life at a polling place on Election Day.

The video undertaking is the end result of practically a yr of planning, together with collaboration with a number of key companions.

By means of partnerships with the Wisconsin Newspaper Affiliation, Wisconsin Broadcasters Affiliation, and DPI, the training undertaking shall be promoted in newspapers and on radio stations throughout the state and be made accessible to be used in school rooms.

The WEC additionally thanks the Wisconsin Council for the Social Research, Wisconsin Cities Affiliation, Wisconsin County Clerks Affiliation, and Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Affiliation for offering suggestions within the preliminary phases of the undertaking. 

Wisconsinites have more and more expressed a want to know extra about how our state’s elections work, particularly when false details about voting techniques is rampant. Company workers hope this collection of instructional movies will present a enjoyable and fascinating method to study.

“This undertaking actually will get on the fundamentals of how election administration in Wisconsin works,” Wolfe stated. “We’re excited to know that lecturers throughout the state now have entry to this content material to assist with civics training of their school rooms.”

Wolfe stated the training undertaking is aimed toward all Wisconsin residents. She stated Elections 101 just isn’t about politics or candidates however fairly rests on factual explanations of how elections actually work in Wisconsin. The undertaking just isn’t a voter registration marketing campaign.  

The WEC is grateful to town of Madison, Badger Boys State, Incapacity Rights Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Incapacity Vote Coalition, Edgewood Excessive Faculty in Madison and Bradley Tech Excessive Faculty in Milwaukee for offering on-location websites and volunteer contributors for filming.

Together with the polling place video that was shot on the Madison Municipal Constructing, the opposite on-location websites for the undertaking included Badger Boys State on the UW-Eau Claire campus, Edgewood Excessive Faculty, and Bradley Tech Excessive Faculty.

Together with the WEC’s web site, the content material could also be accessible on many different websites as nicely, together with these of undertaking companions, varied media shops, and native jurisdictions.