Because voter turnout in primaries is traditionally very low, we have put together some resources to stress the importance of voting among your staff and other supporters of public education in your community.
These resources do not advocate on behalf of a specific party, candidate or policy position. Instead, they stress the importance of voting in primaries and seek to provide guidance that will help audiences better understand the connection between primary voting and policy decisions affecting public schools. We encourage you to share these resources with supporters inside and outside of your district so that the education community is particularly aware of the need to vote in these key elections.
You can share all of these resources by simply sharing a link to this Primary Education folder. You can also share specific elements of the folder that might be useful in your community. Inside the folder, you will find:
- Guidelines for how school districts should talk and not talk about voting in the primaries.
- A social media calendar that provides suggested posts and graphics to use throughout the primary season. Graphics and suggested captions have been tailored for the platforms of Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter). We encourage you to share this resource with your communications department and others in your communities who may be willing to help increase voter participation in the primaries, such as a PTA group, individual trustees, or an education foundation.
- A sample email to district employees regarding the importance of voting.
- A sample email to your community about the importance of voting. With both sample letters, we encourage you to edit the content as you see fit.
- Two sample op/ed guest columns for administrators or others supporting the school district to submit to local newspapers (first sample Op/Ed and second sample Op/Ed).
- Some key data points for you to use regarding voter participation in primaries.
- Short video related to educating about primary voting
We encourage you to use these resources to help increase voter participation in the primaries among educators and those who care about education. Please let us know if there are other communication resources that may be helpful. (We will soon be sharing a short video as well.) The 2024 primaries represent a critical moment for public education and we appreciate your partnership between now and the March 5 elections.
