Election Educational Resources

• Virginia Election and Voting Resources: These resources provide information specific to elections, voting, and voter registration in Virginia.
  • Virginia Department of Elections, Voter Pocket Guide: This handout provides important information for voting in Virginia and  can be used to talk about and learn about elections and voting in Virginia. It is available in several languages.
  • Registration Drive Training: If your program is interested in requesting 25 or more voter registration applications from the Virginia Department of Elections (ELECT), this website provides information on how to set up a registration drive.
  • Virginia Department of Elections: This is the main website for elections and voting in Virginia.
• National Voter Registration: This page provides resources to help people get registered to vote.
• League of Women Voters of Virginia, How to Be a Virginia Voter: This website provides easy access to all important voter information. It also includes multilingual resources for learning how to vote in Virginia.
  • Fact sheets remind readers to register to vote and educate voters on appropriate ID and voting schedules
  • Vote411.org, a service of the League of Women Voters, provides information on candidates, local ballot issues, and redistricting
  • Slide presentation (here) to use with public adult groups on how, when, and where to register and vote; see links on this page to other vetted civics education sites
  • Restoration of Rights website with information for restoring voting rights for returning citizens
• The Change Agent’s August 2024 Issue, Advocate, Organize Vote: In this issue, students write about why they vote, how they participate in civics even if they are not citizens, what they think of politicians, what issues matter to them, and how they think critically about what’s in their news feeds. In addition, there are standards-aligned pre- and post-reading activities and extensions. VALRC has a subscription to The Change Agent that Virginia adult education practitioners can use to access all of The Change Agent‘s issues and resources. The username is VALRC and the password is VALRC2025 . 
• ProLiteracy, Election Interactive Voting Guide (2024): This resource provides a News for You article and an online course for adult learners that covers understanding “fake news”, local elections, and voting rights.
• Literacy Minnesota, Voter Education: I am a citizen; how do I vote?: This curriculum contains five classroom lessons for adult English language learners, adult basic education, and citizenship classes that are based on stories for students to read, using a ‘real-life’ approach to learning. The curriculum contains website information and references to forms about voting in the state of Minnesota. These instances can be easily adapted to Virginia.
• Voter Education, Registration, and Action (VERA), Classroom and Program Resources: VERA is a non-partisan project designed for adult learners and program staff in the New England states. This resource provides classroom materials and lesson plans for integrating election and voting content into the adult education classroom. This resource was developed for New England states, so instructors may have to edit or modify for their classrooms.
• Right Question Institute’s “Why vote?” Voter Engagement Resources: This page includes resources that can be used to engage people in their communities who are not regular voters and to teach civics participation. Videos from actual voter education program participants, including one who speaks about adult education, will be relatable to many adult learners.
• Facing History & Ourselves, Teaching about Voting and Elections: This article presents strategies and resources for integrating democratic processes and information into the classroom. It is written from the K-12 perspective, so may require some adaptations and modifications for the adult education context.
• Find contemporary and history-based civics lesson plans and materials:
  • Teaching Skills that Matter Toolkit is on LINCS.ed.gov in the Civics Education Tab.
  • Civics Navigator is a civics education project of the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP).
  • Commemorating America’s 250th! Bookmark the site VA250 for additions and lesson materials all year long.

Read about the importance of civic education in adult education in the following articles:

• Civics Education Is a Critical Component of Adult Education (Excerpt from article in the VALRC Progress newsletter, April 2021): A key outcome of participation in adult education is that students are empowered to be more engaged in and informed about their roles as parents, employees, and community members. Civics education is a critical component of all levels and types of adult education, preparing students to engage in respectful dialogue, become knowledgeable about American history and civic structures, and understand the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and civic participation. Civics education should never be a cut-and-paste exercise from one year to another. The fast pace of change certainly reminds us of that! Civics education should draw on current events that impact the students’ communities at the local, state, and national levels and help students identify and understand connections between current and past events and social and civic structures.
• Teaching the Skills that Matter, Civics Education (Excerpt from article in the VALRC Progress newsletter, April 2021): Civics lessons can emphasize the value of the diversity of experiences adults bring with them, apply critical thinking to those experiences, and explore each other’s perspectives. Through such learning experiences, our students can build the confidence and language skills to be more engaged in their communities.