Generation gap is often widest in election booth

BOISE – In a state where people traditionally have turned out to vote in large numbers, a precipitous drop in voting among young people has dismayed two top Idaho officials.

Secretary of State Ben Ysursa and state Superintendent of Schools Marilyn Howard have joined in a new civics push aimed at Idaho high school seniors, including a statewide mock election that will have the students vote for president and Congress this year as part of their course work.

“Let’s get folks learning about government and participating,” said Ysursa, a Republican.

Howard, a Democrat, said the program fits right in with Idaho’s education standards, which call for extensive civics education for high school students.

“Ultimately the goal for this program is to bring the standards to life for our students,” Howard said. “We want them to see the connection between civic involvement and how business is done.”

Ysursa said nationally, “Eighty percent of 80-year-olds vote, 20 percent of 20-year-olds vote. That’s something we’re not proud of. That’s something we need to turn around.”

The problem has been worsening in Idaho. Nationally, voting among people age 18-24 dropped 13 percent between 1972 and 2000, but in Idaho, it dropped 27 percent in that same time period. Ysursa said only 41 percent of Idaho’s 18- to 24-year-olds voted in 2000, down from 68 percent in 1972.

“They have to take ownership. They’re the stakeholders of our democracy,” Ysursa said. “They’re what it’s all about. Idaho has been historically very high (in voter turnout), but we’re going down. We need to reverse that trend.”

The mock election will take place the last two weeks of October, with voting online. Each student will have a unique identifying code, to prevent anyone from voting more than once. The students will be able to see instant results, including the difference in the ongoing tally that their vote makes.

As part of the program, the two state officials unveiled a new CD designed to serve as an electronic textbook for 12th-grade civics in Idaho.

Howard said there are many resources for teaching American government, but there have been few Idaho-specific resources available for teaching high school students about state and local government in the state. The new CD, which contains more than 900 pages of material, includes everything from lesson plans to a gallery of historical photos to original documents like the Idaho and U.S. constitutions.

Among its features: The disc includes, for the first time, a digitized and indexed copy of the entire Idaho Blue Book. That reference book, published every two years by the Secretary of State’s office, contains a wealth of information about Idaho, from current and historical elected officials, to how the branches of Idaho’s government work, to the state flag, flower, fruit and song.

Lessons and articles that refer to historic events or documents include links that take the reader to the full-text documents, such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

“It’s like having a reference library on your desk,” said James Mairs, a digital producer who worked on the CD.

Howard said high school students vote at close to a 100 percent rate in student body elections in school.

“So what changes?” she said. “We want this to be a value that they carry. We want students to know that they are part of the democratic process.”

The new civics program, including the CD and the mock election, was funded jointly by the Secretary of State’s office, using federal “Help America Vote Act” funds, and the state Department of Education, using curriculum funds.

“We all know the rubber meets the road in the classrooms,” Ysursa said. “This is a tremendous first step.”

Musical candidates

Things keep switching around down in one Boise legislative district. The various switches have brought back a name familiar to North Idaho voters – Gino White, who was one of the Legislature’s youngest members when he represented the Silver Valley from 1987 to 1994.

Two years ago, White, who now lives in Boise, tried for a comeback, taking on moderate Republican Sen. Cecil Ingram of Boise. White, a Democrat, tallied 46.4 percent of the vote to Ingram’s 53.6 percent.

Now, Ingram has retired, and Democratic Rep. David Langhorst is running for his seat. That left Langhorst’s House seat up for grabs in this swing district, and Republican Jana Kemp won a three-way GOP primary with 43 percent of the vote, defeating former Helen Chenoweth spokesman Graham Paterson and former Libertarian Michael Gollaher.

The Democrat in that race was supposed to be Don McMurrian Jr., but he’s now dropped out, and White has jumped in.

To complete the musical chairs, Langhorst’s Republican opponent, Clinton Miner, also has dropped out, and the GOP has named Paterson to replace him.