Welcome to the Government Now that you are 18 you have a lot more freedom. You can move out and not listen to what your parents say. There are so many more things you can do now. One of them is now it is legal for you to vote. Wow I bet you didn’t know that. This newsletter is going to walk you through the process of voting and what you should look for when you vote for someone. The perks of being 18 What is Voting? Now you may be wondering what is voting exactly? Well voting is a formal expression of opinion or choice, made by an individual or a body of individuals. What you get to do is choose who you want to represent you. Then you get to vote for them. Kind of like in high school when you voted for the SBO’s.

Welcome to the Government Ok now that you know what voting is it’s time to show you how to vote. The first step is to register yourself. What is that? Well a voter registration is the process used by the government to ensure that everyone who votes in an election is legally eligible to vote. There are multiple websites you can go to register yourself on. Make sure that your register in your state and do it 20 to 30 days before the election day. Step one Page 2 Now What? Now that you are registered you should figure out who is running. There are government based websites that tell you about the candidates. Also around election time the candidates would be campaigning. So you would see their posters all around town, they talk on TV and the radio. Just make sure you do your research on the candidates before you just vote for one of them. Voting District You also need to register in your voting district. Which is a geographical area that minimizes fraud and makes administration more efficient. Each district has one voting station only. You can only register and vote in the voting district you live in.

Welcome to the Government Say that these two actors were running in an election. You would want to decide who you think would represent you the best. What you don’t want to do is just vote for Adam because he is a male or vote for Jennifer because she is pretty. What you do is read the information about them and what they plan to do if they win the election. Then after doing that and some research about each of them you pick which one you would want to see in office. Page 3 Picking a Candidate Name: Adam Sandler Birthday: September 9, 1966 Party: Democrat If I win this election my plan is to make a national budget and try to put a limit on how much money we spend on our goods that we import and export. Name: Jennifer Lawrence Birthday: August 15, 1990 Party: Republican If I win this election I plan to make a budget that will help eliminate some of the debt that the nation has. Also I plan to make a program that helps schools get the things they need and a program to help our veterans that suffer from PTSD.

Welcome to the Government Now that you have registered and picked a candidate now it’s time to vote. The next thing you are going to do is find a polling place. A polling place is were the voting takes place. Normally it’s at schools. Once you go to your polling place you will go to the polling booth and you are given a ballot. Then you will vote. After you mark your ballot you will put it in a ballot box. Then you get a sticker that says I voted today and then you go home. Page 4 Final Step Ballots A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election, and is normally a piece of paper. They are used to record decisions made by voters. Each voter uses one ballot, and ballots are not shared with others. Voting Booth A voting booth is a compartment with one open side. Then one voter at a time stands there to mark their ballot. Ballot Box A ballot box is a sealed box were voters put their completed ballots. It’s a safe place to put them for a period of time before they are counted.