Civics & Electoral Processes

Service Description

Topics include: - U.S. Government organization: What do federal, state, and local governments do? - Elections in the US: What even is the Electoral College? What about primaries? How can someone who wins most of the votes lose the presidential election? - The theory behind elections: why do we do elections like we do in the US and what other options are there? - Elections in practice: How do governments actually run elections? If you’ve looked at the news recently, you probably know that there’s a lot of important elections happening in the United States this year. And as residents of the United States, a nation where the people control the government, knowing what rights and responsibilities you have during these elections is incredibly important! During this class led by Daina, a current MIT student, former poll worker and former chair of MIT's Educational Studies Program, we’ll explore exactly what it means to be active in politics, and the importance of elections. Firstly, you can not run an election without knowing what positions you are electing. Whether it’s the president of the United States or a member of a City Council, each role in government has a different job, and during the first two weeks we’ll talk about all the different things governments do. For the following next three or four weeks, we’ll take a deep dive into how elections are run in the United States, starting with Congress. We’ll also explore the by-far-most-confusing election in the U.S, the presidential election. Both the primaries and the electoral college are incredibly complicated systems, but they are responsible for choosing the next President. We’ll also have some discussions about alternative electoral systems, because the way we run elections today is not the only possible way, many other countries run their elections differently, with both pros and cons. Lastly, we’ll end the class by talking about how elections actually get run - exploring topics like polling, voter registration, vote counting, and more! This class is open to all who are interested in becoming a more responsible citizen, regardless of how much you may (or may not) know about politics. By the end of this class, you should be prepared to both understand whatever happens in November and participate in elections yourself! (Once you are old enough)

Contact Details

• 9292665326

  matt@edrev.co