ELECTION 2020 SERIES Vote By Design Training Workshop

With the low youth turnout in the last Presidential election, there’s a lot of effort being spent getting young voters to vote. But are we doing enough to help students become capable and confident voters, helping them approach their voting decisions as independent and critical thinkers? What if what shows up as “voter apathy” is lack of clarity?

Vote by Design is an award-winning voter literacy project incubated at Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school) that teaches voters how to view the job of the U.S. President through leadership qualities and qualifications  (vs. sound bites or parental and peer influence).  It blends critical thinking, civics literacy, and conversation across different perspectives to help voters create a more robust and personal understanding of what we’re voting for. It helps students identify potential biases in themselves and creates productive space for them to learn from others.

To date, Vote by Design has been offered to more than 1,000 students across the United States, from the deep red state of Montana to the deep South of Georgia and across California. One student shared, “I thought it was hopeless, but now I feel like I have a way to productively engage.” Another said, “I used to think what my parents thought, and now I think for myself.”

Join Lisa Kay Solomon, Designer in Residence at the Stanford University Hasso Plattner Institute of Design and bestselling author of Moments of Impact: How to Design Strategic Conversations that Accelerate Change, as she shares the pedagogy and generative practices of the Vote by Design experience that not only helps our next-gen voters become more prepared for November but also prepares them to engage in the process for a lifetime.