Kids Voting South Dakota

To learn more about Kids Voting South Dakota, please visit their site.

Kid's Voting Curriculum:

This site is free to educators! It contains lessons that have little to no prep and are easily correlated to standards.

Want to hold a kid's mock election? Here are a few ideas to help you set up a mock voting experience:

Ballot Creation: You can create simple ballots with age-appropriate topics for the kids to vote on. This could include fun questions like "What’s your favorite school subject?" or "Which is the best school lunch?"
Voting Booth Setup: Set up a small area with privacy screens to simulate a real voting booth. You can use cardboard or dividers to create a private voting area.
Ballot Box: Create a ballot box using a decorated cardboard box with a slot on top where the kids can drop their ballots.
Role Play: Assign roles to the kids such as poll workers, voters, and election officials to give them a complete experience of how elections are conducted.
Discussion: After the mock election, have a discussion about the importance of voting, how elections work, and what it means to participate in a democracy.

We hope these resources and ideas will help you create an engaging and educational experience for your students!

Gladys Pyle Award

South Dakota Secretary of State Monae L. Johnson founded the 1st Annual Gladys Pyle Award in 2023 to encourage South Dakota High School students to get involved in the election process and register to vote. Every school in South Dakota that signs up and registers at least 90% of their age-eligible students to vote will receive the Annual Gladys Pyle Award.

Gladys Pyle was an American educator and politician. She was the first woman to be elected to the United States Senate, without having been appointed to her position previously. Pyle also served as South Dakota Secretary of State from 1927 to 1931.

Award Requirements:

All schools will receive a Gladys Pyle Award if at least 90% of their eligible seniors register to vote.
All schools will be issued a certificate by the Secretary of State's office for those who achieve 50-89% voter registration.

Steps for schools to follow:

To register, email your school name to elections@state.sd.us (include Gladys Pyle Award in the subject line.)
Promote the Gladys Pyle Award to your students and school staff.
Conduct a Voter Registration Drive.
1. If a student turns 18 after June 4, 2024, a Pledge to Vote card may be submitted in lieu of age ineligibility.
Once the voter registration timeframe has ended, email the Secretary of State's office your final registration numbers, as well as the Pledge to Vote cards.
Please revew the Voter Registration Drive instructions here.

The 2024 Gladys Pyle Award recipients are listed below:
Stanley County High School â€“ 18 new registrations
T. F. Riggs High School â€“ 18 new registrations
SDSU â€“ 74 new registrations and updates
Dakota Wesleyan University â€“ 28 new registrations

The 2023 Gladys Pyle Award recipients are listed below:
Sturgis Brown High School
BHSU Spearfish High School SDSM&T

"I Voted" Sticker Contest

The Secretary of State's Office would like to present a contest for students to design the next "I Voted" sticker. This sticker will be used for the 2024 General Election. There will be 4 categories: K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Constitutional officers will judge the sticker contest.

Rules for the "I Voted" Sticker Contest:

All artwork submitted must be your original work; no stock or borrowed images may be used.
Entries must include the words "I Voted".
Artwork must be nonpartisan.
Entries may be created on paper or digitally.
- Paper entries must be either scanned or photographed clearly for submission.
- Digital and paper files must be under 10MB, and must be a .pdf, .jpg, or jpeg.
- Sticker Template
Entries will be used for social media and other marketing materials for the South Dakota Secretary of State's Office
All entries must be received by March 31, 2024. Please send entries to:
South Dakota Secretary of State