Midterm elections are confusing. But don’t worrry I am here with a mock election guide!

State of the Ballot

First, the basics, in words your students can actually use. Read this aloud, or put it on a slide:

On Tuesday, November 3, voters across the United States choose members of Congress, the people who make the country’s laws. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 seats in the Senate are on the ballot. There’s no president on the ballot this year, which is why it’s called a midterm: it falls in the middle of the president’s four-year term.

Here’s where it gets interesting.

Ballots change depending on where you live.

A voter in San Diego and a voter in Miami get completely different ballots. The races change from state to state, and so do the ballot measures. Here in California we call them propositions, and other states call them questions or amendments.

So before your students can vote responsibly, they need to see what’s actually on the ballot where they live.

Pull up your county elections website, or type your school’s address into VOTE411.org, a free, nonpartisan guide from the League of Women Voters. It shows every race and ballot measure for that address.

A few words they’ll need before they dive in:

• sample ballot: a preview of the real ballot, so voters can plan ahead
• candidate: a person running for office
• incumbent: the person who already has the job
• ballot measure: a question where voters decide on a law directly

Ad Nauseam

Okay, I need to vent for a second.

My phone and my TV have not stopped talking about this election for weeks. It’s texts in the morning and ads all evening, and every one of them is very, very urgent.

If it’s wearing me out, imagine being a student who learned the word “candidate” last week.

But here’s the good news. All that noise is perfect teaching material.

A responsible voter asks a few questions before believing anything, so give your students these four to ask of every ad and text they see:

1. Who paid for this? Ads for Congress have to tell you. Listen for “I approved this message” at the end of a candidate’s ad, or look for the small print that starts with “Paid for by.”
2. What’s the claim? Find one sentence in the ad that could be checked, then go check it.
3. What’s missing? Every ad shows one side on purpose, so ask what the other side would say.
4. Is this text even real? Before anyone clicks a link in an election text, find out who sent it.

For English learners, this is real-world English at its most useful. Political ads are packed with persuasive language, and once your students can spot it in an ad, they’ll spot it everywhere.

The ads tell them what to think. The ballot asks them what they think.

Responsible voters know the difference.

Polls Are Open: How to Run the Mock Election

Here’s how the whole thing runs.

1. Build your ballot. Copy the races from your sample ballot onto the ballot template, so your mock ballot matches the real one in your area.
2. Do the homework. Give each pair of students one race or measure. Their job is to find one fact from a nonpartisan source and one claim from an ad, then check whether the claim holds up.
3. Report back. Each pair gets one minute to explain their race to the class: what it decides and what each side says, with no opinions allowed.
4. Set up the polling place. A desk in the corner with a folder standing up as a privacy screen, plus a tissue box with a slot cut in the top.
5. Vote in secret. Students sign the class “voter roll,” then mark their ballots, fold them and drop them in the box.
6. Count together. Two student “election officials” read the slips aloud and tally them on the board, then you fill in the results pie chart.
7. Debrief. Ask one question: “How did you decide?” The answers tell you exactly who did the homework.

I know some of you just broke into a cold sweat at the words “politics in my classroom.”

Fear not!

Nobody has to share how they voted, since it’s a secret ballot, just like the real thing. And you decide what goes on the ballot, so if the real races feel too hot for your room, swap in a local ballot measure or a class question, like how to spend the next class reward.

Cast Your Ballot: Make Your Mock Election Look Real

Now, you could make the ballots yourself. Tear some paper in half and write the names on the board.

Problem solved. Right?

Well… sort of.

Half-sheets of notebook paper don’t look anything like a real ballot, and practicing the real thing is the whole point. Plus, every state’s ballot is different, so you’d be starting from scratch every single election.

That’s why I made my Mock Election Ballots.

Teachers who’ve used them say it better than I can:

“We did a MOCK election in our classroom after learning about the process and specific candidates and political parties. They were excited to have one of their own. I’m thankful to be able to use these in future elections as well.” (Cristina H., 5th grade)

“This was such a time saver! My students wanted to hold an election for their high school teachers, and this pre-made template saved me so much time.” (Elizabeth M., 10th grade)

👉 Take a closer look at the Mock Election Ballots

After the Polls Close

On Wednesday morning, put your class results next to your state’s real results.

Where did your class match the real vote, and where did it surprise you? That conversation might be the best part of the whole lesson.

Want more lessons like this? Pop your email in below and I’ll send the next one straight to your inbox. 🙂

Are you running a mock election this year? Tell me in the comments what your class put on the ballot, because I would love to know!

As always, Happy Teaching!

-Elsa