How toxic politics are affecting schools' mock elections

Zoom in: Jessica Graham, a high school social studies teacher in Waterville, Maine, has reframed voting to anxious students as "a way of caring for your community" rather than "getting involved in politics."

• "A fair number of students are a little wary of the idea of voting because the discourse is so increasingly divided in our national politics," she said.

State of play: New laws dictating how schools teach history, civics and so-called "divisive issues," along with the general trend toward extreme partisanship, have had a "chilling effect" on teachers, said Emma Humphries, the chief education officer at iCivics.

• "In 1970s America, you wouldn't think twice about talking about the election and the candidates," she said. "But today, you're going to pause."
• "And if you're really smart, you're going to tell your administration ahead of time and maybe even send a letter home to parents letting them know that you plan to do this and what your goals are."

Zoom out: A majority of today's school-aged children have only had political consciousness during the heightened fervor of the Trump era — which has often put schools themselves in the crosshairs.

• Last year, 65% of teachers in a national RAND Corporation survey said they limit classroom discussions of social or political issues.

Teachers "want to avoid any type of controversy," said Meg Heubeck, the director of instruction at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, which runs a mock election program.

• "It's really unfortunate," she said, "because if we don't talk about voting, if we don't talk about elections, if we don't practice, then how are students supposed to learn?"

What they're saying: "When we do things like mock elections, I really try to use that as an opportunity to show them: Here's how you vote. Here's what a ballot looks like," said Ryan Werenka, a social studies teacher in Troy, Michigan.

• In Indiana this year, the mock election is being combined with a voter registration drive for older high schoolers for the first time, said Chuck Dunlap, president and CEO of the Indiana Bar Foundation, which administers the student election.
• He's hopeful that'll help counter low engagement among younger voters. The state ranked 50th out of 51 national jurisdictions in 2022 voter turnout, according to the foundation's civic health index released last year.

The bottom line: "Voting, voting registration, inclusion within that, expressing your vote through voting should be universal and should be bipartisan, nonpartisan," Dunlap said.

Go deeper: Where and how college students can vote