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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, September 29, 2006

Kids registering to vote in virtual state elections

By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser Staff Writer

HOW TO VOTE

Register through Oct. 23 at www.kidsvotinghawaii.org. Voting will take place online from Oct. 24 through 6 p.m. Nov. 7. All students are eligible to vote, but must have a password issued by their teacher. Home-schooled and private-school students may participate. Prior to the voting period, students can practice voting on the site.

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Nearly half of all public school students in Hawai'i have registered to vote in Kids Voting Hawaii, an online civics lesson.

With more than three weeks to go before the end of the registration period, organizers of Kids Voting Hawaii are hoping for a record number of registered participants. They will cast their mock ballots via the Internet at school, home, public libraries, cell phones or even at polling places on Nov. 7, the day of the general election.

As of yesterday, 91,962 students had registered from 434 schools statewide.

All that's required is access to the Internet and a password issued by the student's teacher, said Jeff Chan, a sales engineer at Commercial Data Systems, a company that devised the Web-based program enabling students to participate in elections. In 2004, about 70,000 students from 278 schools around the state voted, compared with 58,000 students in 2002.

"All you need is a Web browser," Chan said yesterday at the kickoff of the test ballot on the Kids Voting Hawaii Web site. "Kids Voting Hawaii is a whole curriculum on how to vote and research a candidate. That's why it's so important."

Final results will be posted after 6 p.m. Nov. 7 — faster than the official results issued by the state Office of Elections, Chan said.

Kathy Tanaka, a retired social studies teacher from Pearl City High School, said teaching the value of voting is particularly important in Hawai'i, where voter turnout is traditionally low. At last week's primary the turnout was about 42 percent of registered voters.

"The solution is to start with the younger generation to foster that habit. It makes democracy come alive for the students," Tanaka said.

Students are encouraged to vote online at home with their parents and discuss the issues facing Hawai'i, she said.

"We hope as a side benefit that adults will go out to vote, too," Tanaka said.

Lee Ann Hironaka, a fifth-grader at Koko Head Elementary School, said she voted in the 2004 general election through Kids Voting Hawaii.

"It made us feel good," Hironaka said. "We knew about the world."

Nicole Kahale, another Koko Head fifth-grader, said, "We're lucky that we have a chance to vote. Other places around the world don't have that opportunity."

Kids Voting Hawaii is a non-profit organization partnering with schools in the state, and is designed to educate youngsters on the importance of voting and good citizenship. Students in kindergarten through 12th grade are eligible to vote. A curriculum recently was developed to meet the state's social studies standards. Sponsors of the program include Commercial Data Systems, First Hawaiian Bank, the Gannett Foundation and Rotary District 5000.

Linda Coble, chairwoman of Kids Voting Hawaii, said that if students don't have access to a computer or to a public library, a Rotary volunteer will be stationed at polling places Nov. 7 around the state with a computer link to the kids' voting Web site.

"Every child will get an opportunity to vote," Coble said.

Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com.