In this lesson, students will study what their state is doing to ensure fair elections. They will first watch a video clip about an investigation by the United States Commission on Civil Rights into voting complaints in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. Students will then discuss issues related to fair elections, research what their state is doing to improve its election administration, and summarize their findings.
The video clips used in this lesson are from the film, Cruz Reynoso: Sowing the Seeds of Justice, a biography produced by Abby Ginzberg that follows Reynoso as he rises from humble beginnings to fight discrimination and inequality as a lawyer, judge, and teacher.
By the end of this lesson, students will: describe the importance of civic participation in a democracy; identify problems that people in Florida said prevented them from voting in the 2000 presidential election; explain how a lack of confidence in election administration can affect citizen participation in a democracy; summarize how state election administration has changed since the passage of the Help America Vote Act of 2002.
