SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — In 2020, voter turnout in the United States was lowest among young voters, with a little more than 51% of people ages 18 to 24 casting a ballot.
To help increase knowledge among the next generation, a Sioux Falls teacher is helping his students learn more about local elections, even if they are unable to vote.
Whether students at Washington High School are of voting age or not, many didn’t know much about local politics before this year.
“I honestly didn’t know a ton about elections,” senior Grace Peterson said.
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“I think I paid most attention to like the main presidential one, obviously, but like local ones, I didn’t know anything about,” senior, Samuel Glasrud said.
Thanks to their government teacher, Wyll Hannemann, students are learning more about local issues.
“They’ve been looking at both presidential candidates and today, actually, we’re going over the amendments and initiated measures and then the referred law. We’re going over all those and just so they can kind of see where they stand on it,” Hannemann said.
While many of these students aren’t old enough to vote, he says it’s still important to learn about local government.
“Local government affects us a lot more than our federal government does. So just to be constantly aware of what’s going on in your town, what’s going on in your city, what’s going on in your county and your state, that’s what’s going to see that you’re going to see the changes a lot more,” Hannemann said.
Hannemann’s students agree.
“Even if you can’t necessarily vote, you can still go out and help influence other people who might not really know anything about the election, kind of help them out so that everybody that’s able to vote, votes,” junior Hannah Nesdahl said.
“Things you elect for like not just the president, but you can also elect different positions I’ve learned about different amendments that you can elect on the ballot,” Peterson said.
“Just more like what yes or no to each of the things would mean and specifically mean for different aspects of just our local area and stuff,” Glasrud said.
Helping educate the next generation, so they understand the importance of casting their ballots.
“I am ready to vote in the upcoming years just because I feel like as long as you really like research on each person, I think I’ll be able to make an educated choice on who’s going to be best for my future and for the upcoming future of everybody else,” Nesdahl said.
The school is having an election, which Hanneman said is going to be as realistic as possible, to give students a taste of what elections are really like.
