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Will Buhler Phone: 517.353.9000 Fall '06 YouVote STUDENT PROJECTS: (NOTE: assignments current as of 9.15.05 Any updates will be found at this URL: <http://www.msu.edu/~omalle24/S-L_Assignments.html>) Assignment 1: Due September 9 by 11:59am Why Is It Important to Vote at Your Age? To begin to understand why voting and the democratic system is important, you must first put it in the personal context. This is an individual assignment. Each person is to write 150-200 words to answer: Why is it important to vote at your age? Some starting ideas would be to look at the demographic information on voters in your age bracket. This piece is also reflective. What does voting mean to you? Why would this section of the course be beneficial? Email me this assignment by the due date. (Some answers may be selected for the website.) Assignment 2: Due September 16 by 11:59am Election Voting Timeframe There is a cycle that happens with elections. What happened if all of the elections happened in the same year for each level of governance? This assignment will be a new section to the YouVote website. As a group, research the elections that happen each of the years. You do not have to do the exact years listed (i.e. 2007 election year is the same as 2003, 2006—2002, etc). So your group can look and see what levels had elections. You should give a brief description of each election for your year.
Assignment 3: Due September 26 by 11:59am Review East Lansing City Council Race It is important to know what each candidate stands for in an election. Being an informed citizen and voter is imperative to making a thoughtful decision. For this assignment, you will review the survey conducted by ASMSU and RHA. Then, as a group write up a summary for the top issues of students at MSU for your assigned candidate in the East Lansing City Council election. The summaries need to be 150-200 words and unbiased. This exercise not only involves becoming educated, but also being able to state others’ point of view and not your own necessarily. The website to review is http://votesmart.msu.edu.
Assignment 4: Due October 12 by 11:59am Lansing Candidate Q&A In class, we will decide on questions to ask each of the candidates for the Lansing Mayoral and City Clerk elections. The primaries were held before this semester, so there is information on the candidates on the web. Before we work on questions, you need to review their websites of your respective candidate. When working with the questions, think about what an MSU student living in Lansing would want to know. As a group, you all need to contact the candidate before you ask for responses to questions, explaining who you are, what this is for and what you need from them and when. You will have only a short time to complete this assignment. Also realize that the candidates have other things to do with the election, so be polite and firm.
Copies of the letter you are sending to the candidate are to me by September 21 at 11:59am. Also, in the letter, ask for the candidates' responses by October 1, so there is leeway and also enough time for your group to get the responses. Assignment 5: Due October 19 by 11:59am What if we were Burundi? This is the second reflective piece and is individual. Go to the site http://www.idea.int/vt/country_view.cfm?CountryCode=BI and look around the site. Pay particular attention to the percentage of voters voting in the elections. Click around to understand the acronyms and the site. Throughout this project, you have learned what the voter turnout is in the U.S. What would it mean if the U.S. had the same percentage of voters each year for the presidential race? How would things be different? If you use more than the site listed, please identify that in your response. The reflections should be 150-200 words. Assignment 6: Due October 26 by 11:59am Looking Toward the Future Many of the assignments for this project are about the election this year. This assignment will help getting you started thinking about elections in the near future. This assignment will take the work of the entire group. Each group is assigned a major political party for the Presidential and Gubernatorial elections. To begin this work, look at the websites of the major parties, nationally and statewide, respectively. Then from there, look at more information about the candidates on their own websites. Also, look at major magazines and see what people are most talked about running for your assigned position. This assignment will also be posted on the YouVote website.
Rough draft of assignment due October 19 at 11:59am, via email to Tim Assignment 7: Due November 9 at 11:59am Changing the System Change of the election system is inevitable. To be able to understand and witness such a change is remarkable. This assignment asks you to research the Electoral College and the Presidential Primaries. To start this, your group needs to research the primaries or Electoral College to understand the system. Then, research articles supporting the side of the issue you are assigned. You will present your argument in class on November 10 in a debate-style format.
Rough draft of assignment due November 2 at 11:59am, via email to Tim Assignment 8: Due November 16 at 11:59am How Does Voting Play into Citizenship? This is the final assignment and will serve as a reflection of the assignments for this section of the course. Specifically, individually write a 250-300 word essay on the role of voting in citizenship. Reflect on all of the different assignments, articles, and discussions the class had surrounding this topic. This will be a precursor to our discussion on the final day of the Service Project on November 17. Email this assignment to me by the due date/time. Rough draft of assignment due November 9 at 11:59am, via email to Tim |
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