• 12.6 Students evaluate issues regarding campaigns for national, state, and local elective offices.
  • 3. Evaluate the roles of polls, campaign advertising, and the controversies over campaign funding.
  • 4. Describe the means that citizens use to participate in the political process (e.g.,voting, campaigning, lobbying, filing a legal challenge, demonstrating, petitioning, picketing, running for political office).
  • 5. Discuss the features of direct democracy in numerous states (e.g., the process of referendums, recall elections).
  • 6. Analyze trends in voter turnout; the causes and effects of reapportionment and redistricting, with special attention to spatial districting and the rights of minorities; and the function of the Electoral College.

In preparation for the upcoming elections in November, we completed this project to become more informed young adults. A large portion of the voting population does not vote every year for a variety of reasons, a chief one being that they do not know what they are voting for. We took this opportunity to do an in-depth research on a selection of the propositions on the 2011 ballot. With this research we assembled a table that outlined the funders and backers, pros, and cons of a number of propositions. The completed research was compiled into a neat, clear table to display the information.

This project was particularly interesting because it instructed me on the various political happenings in the 2011 election. I learned a great deal about the various propositions on the ballot. Of particular interest were propositions that dictated where control of political territory would go and environmental concerns. It was highly informative to learn about the bickering between political groups for control of various areas, both economically and politically.