Mission Bay on Election Day

On November 6, 2018, Mission Bay High School students were able to participate in Election Day activities in many ways. In Gebel Anderson’s freshman Government class, students had digital ballots and submitted their votes in their classrooms using Google Form. Mr. Anderson prepared students through a variety of activities that helped them make decisions about candidates and ballot measures. One of these activities included a literacy strategy in the form of a Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) to help them make decisions about the propositions. In SAC, students work in groups of four. Within the group, pairs are assigned the “Yes” or “No” perspective of a proposition. Finally, each pair in the group of four presents their “Yes” or No” evidence to one another and the whole group tries to come to consensus. In this way, students were able to present both sides of each proposition to their classmates and students were then empowered with the information they needed to determine their stance on each proposition. On Election Day, students came prepared with the materials that helped them make their final decisions.

For students aged 16 years or older, students were able to participate as High School Student Poll Workers through the County Registrar of Voters. Nearly 50 students, organized by history-social science teacher June Andrews, were able to join the County Registrar of Voters to facilitate elections throughout San Diego. Mission Bay Students experienced Election Day despite the barriers of being under 18.