Kentucky students can participate in three programs offered by the Office of the Secretary of State this fall, including statewide mock elections, a slogan contest for grades 6-8 and an essay contest for grades 9-12.

Winners of the slogan and essay contests receive special recognition and cash prizes.

The mock election will feature all statewide candidates appearing on the Nov. 8 ballot. A sample ballot will be distributed on the Kentucky social studies teachers’ listserv that can be printed and used for the mock election. Upon completing the ballots, each class is invited to log on to an online tally system to report results. The reporting deadline will be Oct. 27, two weeks prior to the actual election.

Links to candidate websites and the elections themselves will be provided.

The slogan contest is open to all Kentucky students in grades 6-8. Students are invited to submit slogans to encourage voting in Kentucky. This year, in addition to the traditional submission methods, the office will accept submissions via Twitter and Facebook. Rules outlining the submission methods and limits on the length of slogans will be released soon.

The Office of the Secretary of State will select the top 20 slogans, which will then be placed on an online ballot, which the public will use to cast votes for the top three slogans.  

This year’s essay contest has been expanded to include categories relating to the arts, video production, literature and poetry, journalism and English. The final details on rules regarding each category will be released soon. The deadline for both the slogan and essay competitions will be Dec. 7.

For more information, contact Patrick Keal.  

To subscribe to the LISTSERV for Kentucky social studies educators, go here.