WSB/1/9
Sponsored by Lukas Logvin, Joshua Whittaker of Ravenwood High School
This legislation was filed in the Education category
Presented as part of the YIG Volunteer 2024 conference
| 1 | BE IT ENACTED BY THE TENNESSEE YMCA YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT |
| 2 | |
| 3 | Section 1: Terms in the act are defined as follows: |
| 4 | Civic Engagement: Active participation in the community and democratic process, including but not |
| 5 | limited to voting, community service, advocacy, and involvement in local government. |
| 6 | Voter Participation: The act of citizens exercising their right to vote in elections. Civic Education: |
| 7 | Education that promotes understanding of the democratic process, government institutions, and |
| 8 | civic responsibilities. |
| 9 | Voter Registration: The process by which eligible citizens register to vote in elections. |
| 10 | Absentee Ballots: Absentee ballots are a voting method that allows registered voters to cast their |
| 11 | votes in an election without physically being present at their designated polling location on Election |
| 12 | Day usually due to circumstances such as travel, illness, military service, or residence in another |
| 13 | locat |
| 14 | ion. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | Section 2: Alarmed by the 2022 midterm elections results showing only 38.6% of registered voters |
| 17 | in Tennessee participated, this act is to be put in place to increase civic engagement and voter |
| 18 | participation in the state of Tennessee by implementing measures to promote awareness, |
| 19 | education, and increase access and availability to the democratic process. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Section 3: Acknowledging that currently, Tennessee absentee voters can only return their |
| 22 | absentee ballots by mail; while all other states (except Mississippi), allow voters the additional |
| 23 | option of returning an absentee ballot to either an election office or polling place, Tennessee |
| 24 | absentee ballots would be able to additionally be returned to election offices or other polling |
| 25 | locations to increase accessibility in voting and polls. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | Section 4: Concerned that in 2020, many would-be Tennessee voters were unable to cast ballots |
| 28 | because they missed the voter-registration window. Tennesseans are missing the opportunity to |
| 29 | participate in elections because they act too late or are not registered. |
| 30 | Under this act, the state of Tennessee would extend the voter-registration window to allow more |
| 31 | voting to take place and increase the early voting window to help with increased activity in polls. |
| 32 | Currently, the early voting period of county and state elections ranges from 13-16 days. Under this |
| 33 | act, this would increase to 25-31 days and start the voting period earlier. |
| 34 | |
| 35 | Section 5: Aware of reduced voting numbers because of showing up at the wrong polling precinct, |
| 36 | the State of Tennessee will expand Convenience Vote Centers as an option in more counties. |
| 37 | |
| 38 | Section 6: The Tennessee Department of Education shall develop and implement a comprehensive |
| 39 | civic education curriculum for grades K-12, which shall include instruction on the democratic |
| 40 | process, the role of government, and the importance of civic engagement and voting. |
| 41 | Currently, there are some programs to encourage civic engagement like East Tennessee State |
| 42 | Universities Democratic Engagement plan and YMCA clubs and activities like Model United Nations |
| 43 | and Youth In Government. Under this act, these programs will receive more funding and |
| 44 | encouragement while encouraging new programs to branch out in different regions. A new |
| 45 | curriculum will be instituted and required to be taken in public high schools and middle schools |
| 46 | called “Civic Engagement and Voting” explaining the importance of democracy and urging |
| 47 | Tennessee students to vote when older. This curriculum would be half a semester long. |
| 48 | The Tennessee Secretary of State's office shall also ensure outreach of the education curriculum to |
| 49 | underrepresented communities, including people of color, low-income individuals, and people with |
| 50 | disabilities, who all may have possible barriers on voter registration and participation. |
| 51 | |
| 52 | Section 7: To increase participation and engagement, the Tennessee Secretary of State's office |
| 53 | shall coordinate voter registration drives in partnership with schools, colleges, community |
| 54 | organizations, and other stakeholders to increase voter registration among eligible citizens. |
| 55 | |
| 56 | Section 8: This act shall establish a Civic Engagement Week in Tennessee (closer to election and |
| 57 | voting days), where schools, colleges, and community organizations shall host events and |
| 58 | activities to promote civic engagement, voter registration, and education about the democratic |
| 59 | process. |
| 60 | |
| 61 | Section 9: This act shall allocate funding from the state budget to support the civic education and |
| 62 | voting programs, voter registration drives, and outreach efforts described to promote engagement |
| 63 | and participation. If enacted, this bill will have a one time cost currently of 20 million dollars. 10 |
| 64 | million for starting, boosting, and promoting civic engagement week and coordinating registration |
| 65 | drives with colleges and other organizations (wide scale in Tennessee). 5 million to fund or support |
| 66 | the earlier registration windows and for creating and implementing the new half semester voting |
| 67 | curriculum(2.5 million split). 5 million to expand and increase voting convenience centers in the |
| 68 | state of Tennessee. |
| 69 | After the first year, this bill will have a cost of 17 million dollars yearly. 10 million to continue |
| 70 | boosting, promoting, and funding a civic engagement week and for the coordination of registration |
| 71 | drives with colleges and other organizations. 5 million to continue implementing the new civics |
| 72 | curriculum, and fund the earlier registration windows. And 2 million to continue maintaining the |
| 73 | new voting convenience centers. |
| 74 | |
| 75 | Section 10: All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this act are hereby repealed. |
| 76 | |
| 77 | Section 11: This act shall take effect immediately upon becoming law, with public welfare requiring |
| 78 | it. |
| 79 |