roncalli college, timaru
Polling Officers at Roncalli School
Locals Rule - Local Rules
Many students in the 9Z at Roncalli College did not know a lot about the voting process before they started a unit called "Locals Rule - Local Rules" in their Social Studies course.
The upcoming local body elections, October 2007 prompted their teacher, Mrs Gillies, to ensure students increased their knowledge of the role and importance of local councils, even to people too young to vote.
They started by checking on what the students already knew about local government. The results showed that students had a lot of misconceptions about what councils do and that their attitude to politics was rather negative ("boring"; "doesn't affect me" ...)
During the course of the unit students learned about the huge impact councils have on local communities. They also gathered information on the candidates standing for election for the Timaru District Council and mayoralty. Sifting through all the campaign material made it easier for students to decide who they considered should be leading the community.
Polling day for 9Z was on Friday 12th October 2007 (the day prior to the real election close-off date). Several students adopted roles such as Polling Officer; Ballot Box Officer; Electoral Roll Officer and so on. There were even Construction Engineers and Interior Designers who had to set up a room as a Polling Station prior to voting. Students performed their jobs well and class members had no problem following the correct procedure in casting their secret ballot.
On the Monday immediately following Polling Day, the ballot box was opened to count votes. Two Electoral Officers publicly counted votes in the First Past the Post system, and a Scribe transferred their results to a tally on the board so that all could see how candidates were faring. Results were compared with actual results downloaded from the council's website. Students were surprised by a few of the choices the voting public had made.
Interviews conducted on Polling Day:
BEFORE
Georgie and Laura, while waiting in line said that they were feeling excited and that they were looking forward to voting in the elections.
AFTER
Georgie hoped that she voted for the right person and found the task rather interesting.
Kirsty thought the task was "weird" (different from what we usually do) but was pleased that she took part in the exercise.
Zoe, who was one of the two electoral officers who had the job of crossing off voters names as they entered, said that she felt important, and found her job fun.
Towards the end of their unit results showed that student knowledge had increased a lot and most feel confident about the upcoming assessment on what they have learned. Attitudes to politics have also improved, with students acknowledging the importance of local government. Students had been surprised by the low percentage of votes cast by actual electors and they felt that steps should be taken to boost interest in participating in community elections.
Jasmine Waite
9Z "Journalist"