by Karl Kurtz
The following comes from the Mikva Challenge. They didn't provide me with a link to the Medill Reports where this item was originally published, so I am reproducing it in full here.
In 2000, only 50 high school students worked as election judges; with Mikva's help, that number has now swelled to close to 1,900. We thought we'd share with you an article published in Medill Reports that details the students training for a long day's work. And if you see a Mikva student judge in your polling place on Feburary 5th, be sure to say hi!--The Mikva Staff
They might be too young to vote, but they're old enough to supervise the polling sites.
More than 1,800 Chicago high school juniors and seniors will be dispersed throughout the county to help preside over the polling stations on Feb. 5, even though most are too young to cast a ballot.
Despite a lack of experience with the voting process, teenagers are quickest to grasp the new voting technology, according to Chicago Board of Elections spokesman Jim Allen.
"This generation is more comfortable working with computers than any other," said Allen, who added that Chicago has more high school election workers than any other city.
Students must have a 3.0 grade point average to participate in the program, and are paid $170 - the same as the adults receive - for both the expected 18 to 20 hours of work on Super Tuesday and the four-hour interactive crash course.
High schoolers make up more than one-tenth of the 14,000 total election judges and are placed in a polling site in their own ward, according to Brian Brady, executive director of the Mikva Challenge, which has turbocharged student recruitment in recent years and doubled the number of students from last year.
"They're energetic, non-partisan and all smart enough to problem-solve," said Brady, who added that Mikva, which is funded by the McCormick Tribune Foundation, contacts high schools and pays teachers to recruit student workers. "It's a great civics lesson for young people, and they're probably the best judges in the polling places."
State Rep. Julie Hamos of Evanston said the thinking behind allowing teens to serve as judges, which took effect in the November 2000 election, was simple.
"We are always looking for volunteers because it's not well-paid, it's hard work, it's a long day and we needed more of them."
No school recruited more students than Morgan Park High School, which will supply 230 student judges.
But some students find it odd that they are allowed such a prominent role on Election Day, but are still ineligible to vote.
"It's kind of weird," said Alexandra Bryant, a senior at Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep on 111thStreet. "I'm in charge of all these adult votes, but I can't even do it."
"It's a little ironic that most can't vote," said Michael Altman, a Mikva consultant and retired teacher. "But hopefully they'll be informed and active voters later on, and they'll get their family and friends to vote. And they'll be more aware when they vote in the future."
Brooks senior Alice McElroy said she initially signed up to collect the pay day, but said she's become more politically aware since becoming a judge. She said she's feeling confident enough about her training that she will probably just skim the 72-page guidebook with her, check it when questions occur or turn to veteran judges for help.
But others aren't quite so confident.
"I'm worried I won't know exactly what to do," said Bryant. "I'm just a kid. I'm under 18.
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