Students train to be election judges at Oak Forest High School

About 40 students gathered around very large ballot boxes at Oak Forest High School, said Ryan Nagle, social studies department supervisor for Bremen High School District 228.

Nagle said students were excited to be at school after hours, training to be election judges, with about 30 of the students training for the first time. Unlike some classrooms, he said, he did not see students with their heads down.

It didn’t hurt, he said, that the election training program was sponsored by the Chicago Bears and took place a few days before the team’s playoff game against the Green Bay Packers.

Those large ballot boxes will return to Cook County schools month as a part of a pilot program sponsored by a collaboration between the Cook County clerk’s office and the Bears, called Defenders of DA’Mocracy.

The program trained 150 high school juniors and seniors to be election judges during an early voting day on Feb. 26, specifically dedicated for school faculty, students and staff who live in Cook County.

Oak Forest High School hosted one of three of the program’s training sessions for students Jan. 7. Another training was hosted at John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights.

Nagle said the program allows 17- to 18-year-old students to engage in the civic process while also gaining confidence and leadership skills. He said students have trained as election judges before, but having an early election day dedicated specifically to the school is new.

“Students can sense that their roll in democracy matters now, not just like maybe in the future, because they’re actively participating in it,” he said.

Nagle said engaging young students is especially important because young people have historically voted at lower rates than older adults.

Election data shows that among Cook County voters between ages 18 to 22, fewer than 1% typically turn out to vote in municipal elections, 2% to 4% turn out for midterms and fewer than 5% cast ballots in presidential cycles, according to Deputy Clerk of Elections Edmund Michalowski.

Nagle said students learned how to encourage their peers to get involved in the election process, register to vote and understand their voting location options.

One reason students don’t participate in elections at higher rates is due to confusing registration deadlines and requirements, a lack of youth outreach and a dearth of regular curriculum that teaches young people about elections and voting in school, according to Circle research.

“It’s kind of like, knowledge is power, like students might not have known about this stuff aside from the general stuff they’re learning in their civics courses,” he said.

Nagle also said he hopes that students bring this election knowledge into conversations at home, even encouraging their parents to get out to the polls.

Nagle said the Bears senior vice president attended the training and gave an unexpected but inspiring speech about how important it is for young students to be involved in the civic process.

“It was really cool to have that out here, especially a couple days before their playoff game,” Nagle said.

Nagle said that each student received a raffle ticket to win a football signed by D’Andre Swift, the Chicago Bears running back, upon arrival to the training. Diane Mullins, the elections training manager from the Cook County clerk’s office presented the football at the training.

Nagle said he remembers more than 20 years ago these type of civic opportunities were rarely discussed.

He said when he started announcing the program last fall, students who served as election judges in the past were excited and recommended it to their friends.

Nagle said that each school could only recommend eight students per school for the program, but if students still wanted to be judges on the usual election day, they could apply for separate training.

He said the pilot program also encourages voter turnout by having the specific voting day for school staff.

“To have them have that option to come down on their lunch and vote, that’s something,” he said.

awright@chicagotribune.com