Voting Launch Activity

• Constitutional Principles: Representative Government video 

Lesson Overview 

• In this lesson, you and your students will vote multiple times on low-stakes decisions to experience the burden of direct democracy and why the Founders chose to form a representative democracy instead. Students will then vote in the style of a republic in order to experience the difference between democratic and representative government. Finally, students create a product of their choice to depict how the United States would function if it were a direct democracy. 

Anticipate  

• To begin, engage your students with a quick warm-up activity.  
• Ask students to define the forms of government “Democracy” and “Republic.” Write these words on the classroom board space and add short definitions or illustrations for each form of government. 
• Ask students: Which form of government best describes the United States?  
• Tell students, for class today, the class will operate like a true or direct democracy, and the students will have a say in every choice. The teacher will be under student control today. Let the students be excited about this! 

 Engage 

• From this step on, ask students to vote with a raise of hands for every choice you make such as:  
• What color do you write with? 
• Which side of the board do you stand beside? 
• Should you speak more loudly? 
• Should the lights be on or off? 
• Should we work with or without music?  
• Be sure to make students vote on as many things as possible. You may want to plan out votes ahead of time that make sense in your classroom, so you do not forget to stop and vote as class progresses.  

Explore 

• Ask students to view the video on Representative Government and answer the written short response questions below on a sheet of paper. 
  • Record at least 3 reasons why the Founders chose to create a constitutional republic rather than a direct democracy.  
  • What are some problems that can arise in a direct democracy? 
  • Describe how choosing representatives allows American society to represent the will of the people. 
• Now tell students that you will be mixing up their voting style. They will now be voting in the style of a republic.  
  • Assign students to groups or use their regular seating arrangements. Try to ensure some variety in the group sizes. Between two and six students per group is advised.  
  • Pose a question for voting, perhaps a question that was voted on earlier in the class period so students can compare the outcome. 
  • Let the groups discuss how they would like to vote; then have each group elect a representative. 
  • Gather the representatives in a central location and walk through the voting process with just the group representatives.  
  • You can decide if you want to wrap up the voting here or continue it through the rest of the class period depending on how students respond and class time. 
• Clarify that the United States is a constitutional republic, not a direct democracy. If Americans had to vote for everything, they would not have time for anything else. Much like most of this class time has been taken up with voting! The people elect representatives, as the students just did, to represent their views.    

Discussion questions for reflection:  

• How were your interests represented in a direct democracy versus in a representative republic? In which case did you feel most heard?
• How does electing representatives and majority rule help to build consensus?  
• How does representative government help to refine the views of the people? 

Assess & Reflect 

• Using the information, they gleaned from the video, discussion, and activity, students write a creative paragraph, essay, or comic strip depicting how the United States would function if it were a direct democracy. 

Extend 

• As an optional activity, engage students in this “Think the Vote” debate: Should the Total number of Members on the House of Representatives be Increased? 
• Have early finishers write a creative paragraph, essay, or comic strip to accompany their first, depicting the advantages of majority rule.