Wednesday, September 27, 2000
Kid voters learn art of politics
By Howard Wilkinson
The Cincinnati Enquirer
About 400 Cincinnati-area grade-school students got a lesson in politics and art Tuesday in the kickoff event of this year's Kids Voting program at the Cincinnati Art Museum.
But what really seemed to get the attention of grade-schoolers learning about the political process was an old staple of political campaigning in America — the balloon drop.
The kids, from eight schools, raced around the atrium of the Cincinnati Art Museum after museum workers dumped bags of red, white and blue balloons from above. They grabbed balloons out of midair and stomped them on the ground.
It was all part of a morning in which the schoolkids got a chance to take a tour of the museum that featured stops at works of art with a political or historical theme, and then cast ballots on issues important to them — school safety, teen curfews, school lunch menus and others.
“What we want to do is create a whole new generation of voters,” said Jean Rolfes, executive director of Kids Voting.
The Kids Voting program operates in dozens of area schools with programs on public affairs and the importance of voting. On Election Day, grade school and high school students can show up at selected polling places and vote on local, state and national contests along with their parents.
Their votes don't count, of course, but Kids Voting organizers hope the experience of casting a ballot forms a habit they will carry into adulthood.
Tuesday, the schoolchildren touring the art museum saw works including Grant Wood's “Daughters of Revolution,” “The Underground Railroad” by Charles T. Webber, and “The Fugitive's Story,” a painting by John Rogers showing famous abolitionists listening to the story of a fugitive slave mother.
Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken spoke to the students gathered in the atrium, saying Kids Voting is one of his favorite programs.
“You know there are countries that don't have half of what we have in our country, where 70 percent or 80 percent of the people go and vote,” Mr. Luken told the students.
“In our country, we're lucky if it is half that. Someday, you kids can change that.”
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