CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS—AUG. 9, 1988
102 STAT. 4899
ARIZONA—KIDS VOTING PROGRAM
/"^-^'^^^^ [S. Con. Res. 134]
Whereas, voter turnout in the United States has gone steadily down since 1876 until today; Whereas, nearly 50 percent of eligible citizens do not vote in presidential elections, over 60 percent do not vote in congressional elections, and more than 70 percent do not vote in most local elections; Whereas, 84 percent of young Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 did not vote in the 1986 election, and nonvoting—especially by our young people—undermines the validity of the election mandate and the future of our democratic process; Whereas, in Costa Rica, Central America's oldest and most stable democracy, 80-90 percent of that country's voting age population regularly turns out for elections—which the former United States ambassador to Costa Rica has described as a "festival of democracy"; Whereas, for more than 40 years Costa Rican children have been permitted to accompany their parents and grandparents to the polls, and for a number of years children have been allowed to cast mock ballots at their schools, the results of this youth "election" being separately counted and publicized; Whereas, observers credit the high voter turnout in Costa Rican elections in large part to this early exposure of youth to the electoral process, an experience which, they say, sissures that democracy in Costa Rica will be safe come the day when these children are old enough for their votes to count; Whereas, the State of Arizona this year is pioneering an exciting and promising pilot program in American democracy—the first of its kind in the Nation—by adapting and modifying the Costa Rican experience to our electoral system; Whereas, the Arizona experiment—called Kids Voting—is enthusiastically supported by Arizona business, education, press and government leaders, and citizen volunteers, the Arizona legislature passed overwhelmingly, and Governor Rose Mofford signed into law, legislation permitting children to enter the State's official polling places with their parents and to vote in a simulated general election on November 8, the results to be tabulated and publicized; Whereas, some 28,000 children in grades 3 through 12 in 6 Arizona school districts and 2 private schools currently are undergoing a special curriculum financed by a private sector grant to prepare them for November 8 including, in the higher grades, instruction on the rights and responsibilities of informed voters, and information on the candidates, offices, and platforms, and on election procedures generally; Whereas, promoters of Kids Voting describe this historic experiment as "a direct assault on voter apathy" and say it will be a "handson lesson in democracy" for those 28,000 school children who, in turn, are expected to improve the voting habits of their parents by urging them to the polls: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), That election officials and school administrators in all 50 States and the District of Columbia should assess the results of the Kids Voting program in Arizona this November in terms of increased student awareness of an interest in the political process, that the Federal
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