2020 Mock Election Primary Resources

A collection of useful links related to the 2020 Primary Elections, aimed at providing students and teachers some handy information to have when discussing the NH Primary and Mock Election.

Lesson Plans

• Elections: Everything You Need - K-8 - This collection of election resources created for the 2012 election includes lesson plans, activities, and printables. Source: Scholastic
• Voting Rights for Women: Pro- and Anti-Suffrage - Gr. 7-12 - This lesson examines what attitudes about women and their relationships with men had to be overcome before women could win the right to vote. Source: EDSITEMent
• Evaluating Polling Methods and Results - Gr. 7-12 - In this lesson plan students learn terms associated with polling as well as how to read and evaluate poll methodologies and results. They then practice administering and interpreting polls. Source: NY Times Learning Network

Games

• Cast Your Vote - What issues do you want to ask candidates about? In Cast Your Vote, you choose the questions in a debate, rate their responses, and vote for the candidate of your choice. Source: iCivics
• Win the White House - Running for the presidency isn’t easy! In Win the White House, you get to manage your very own presidential campaign by strategically raising funds, polling voters, launching media campaigns, and making personal appearances. Keep a close eye on the map as you battle over electoral votes and popular support. Source: iCivics
• Inside the Voting Booth - Gr. 3-8 - This activity introduces students to the history of suffrage in America, through the "Voting Time Machine," which presents case studies from different decades. Students also anticipate the time when they will be able to vote, through a customized, printable voter registration card, which also asks them to identify the issues they think are most important today. Understand why it is important to vote, examine times in U.S. election history when one vote made a difference in the election's outcome, learn several historical facts about voting and vote in a mock issues survey. Source: PBS Learning Media

News Sources - Local

• NH Union Leader Primary Plus
• WMUR - NH Primary
• NH Public Radio
• Concord Monitor - Politics

News Sources - Iowa

• Iowa Caucuses - This site from the Des Moines Register has the latest news about the candidates in Iowa.
• Iowa Press - This site from Iowa Public Television features the latest political news as well as archived video of past programs, including interviews with the candidates.

News Sources - National

• ABC News
• NBC News
• FOX News
• CBS News
• CNN
• NY Times
• Real Clear Politics
• FiveThirtyEight
• Time
• FactCheck.org
• MSNBC

Election Laws and Voting Districts

• N. H. Election Division - Learn how to register to vote in New Hampshire, find out where the polling places are in your community, find out how to file for office, and find out what type of voting machines are being used in different communities.
• New Hampshire Secretary of State - Voting and election information including elections results for past elections.
• Federal Election Commission - This site contains information about campaign finance regulations for federal offices, as well as information about elections and voting.

Election History

• First-In-The-Nation Presidential Primary - Discover some of the highlights of NH Primary history starting from 1952-1996. Source: nh.gov
• 16 Famous Spots Where Primary History Was Made - From Lindy's Diner in Keene to the Ballot Room at the Balsams, discover some of the iconic sites of the NH Primary. Source: The Boston Globe

First-In-The-Nation Presidential Primary History

• The New Hampshire Political Library - Learn the history of the N.H. primaries, take a look at some presidential primary trading cards, or look at photos from past primaries.
• Dave Lip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections - This site has detailed information on national results for the major and minor candidates for U.S. President in the presidential elections from 1789 through 2000. Individual year pages include candidates, parties, popular and electoral vote totals, maps, charts, and voter turnout (1932-2000). Also, there are state results pages for the elections from 1896 through 2000 with county level maps and data for the elections from 1960 through 2000. Wow! 
• WyzAnt - This site features audio files of figures like Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, FDR, and Richard Nixon. 

Online Video

• A Celebration of The New Hampshire Primary Centennial: The Power of the Granite State - Bloomberg View columnist Albert Hunt leads a rare discussion on the history and importance of the New Hampshire primary with Sen. John McCain, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, James Carville, Tom Rath and Joe McQuaid, publisher of the Union Leader at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. Source: Newseum Channel on YouTube
• Election Foundations - Gr. 6-12 - In this video, students are introduced to why we have presidential elections in the United States. Source: PBS Learning Media
• The General Election - Gr. 6-12 - Every four years, voters across the United States cast ballots to decide who will be the next president. This video helps students to make sense of the American election process by learning how citizens decide who to vote for in the election, the importance of the electoral college, and how swing states affect the outcomes of an election. Source: PBS Learning Media
• 2007 New Hampshire Primary Exhibit - Michael Chaney of the NH Political Library talks the history of New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary. Source: C-SPAN
• 2016 NH Primary - James Pindell, political reporter for the Boston Globe talks about the importance of New Hampshire Primary. Source: C-SPAN
• Primaries and Caucuses - Learn more about how primaries and caucuses work. Source: Khan Academy
• Primaries, Caucuses, and Conventions - David Eisenbach explains the history of the long election process a candidate must go through to become President of the United States. Source: The History Channel

Polls

• Gallup
• Real Clear Politics Poll Overview
• Polling Report
• UNH Survey Center
• Cast Your Vote! - Follow a year in a fictitious election campaign for an inside look at the mathematics behind the polls.

General Election Resources

• League of Women Voters - This site features voter education resources and information.
• Open Secrets - Follow the money trail! Find out who is giving money to campaigns. You can search for campaign contributions by individual donor name or by PAC, industry, or soft money. You can also look at a contribution report for individual candidates.
• Circle - The Center for Information and Research on Civic Engagement and Learning - CIRCLE, based in the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy and is funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and Carnegie Corporation of New York, conducts, collects, and funds research on the civic and political participation of young Americans. You will find a wealth of research-based materials here that look at youth voting and civic engagement.

Political Sites for Students

• Rock the Vote - Grades 7-12 - This site for teens and young adults features coverage of issues like education, the environment, free expression and violence. The site also contains information about registering to vote and becoming politically active.
• PBS Kids Democracy Project - Grades 3-6 - Students can learn how government impacts them by taking a virtual tour of a town's buildings, roads, and parks can go Inside the Voting Booth and learn the history of suffrage in America. While there they can create a customized, printable voter registration card. Next they can become president for a day and make the tough decisions that face a president. There is also a classroom resources section for teachers with lesson plans.
• Elections - Grade 4-12 - This site from the Library of Congress provides primary source materials, lesson plans and other resources focused on elections.
• Congress for Kids: Elections - Grades 3-8 - This site from the Dirksen Congressional Center features information about the primaries, the political parties, the national party conventions and more.
• Ben's Guide to U.S. Government - Grades K-12 - With sections for grades K-2; 3-5; 6-8; 9-12; and parents and teachers, this site from the U.S. Government Printing Office features overviews of how government works and includes games and activities for the student.

Political Parties

• Democratic National Committee
• Green Party
• Libertarian Party
• The Reform Party
• Republican National Committee
• N.H. Democratic Party
• N.H. Libertarian Party
• N.H. Republican Party

Political Cartoons

• Cagle Post - Daily political cartons from editorial cartoonists around the country.

Political Ads

• Political Ad Sleuth - You can search this site to find out who's funding political ads airing across the country. You can sort it by state and individual television market or date.
• The Living Room Candidate - This site from the American Museum of the Moving Image has Presidential campaign commercials from 1952-2012. You can search by year, type of commercial, or issue.You will also find a collection of lesson plans for grades 9-12 as well as the Ad Maker, and interactive tool that lets students  re-edit a commercial from a historic presidential campaign or creating one using historical footage. You will need to register to save your finished ad.

Pressroom Contact

Carla Gordon Russell
Director of Communications
crussell@nhpbs.org
(603) 868-4339