[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 132 (Tuesday, September 20, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 20, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                          KIDS VOTING ARKANSAS

  Mr. PRYOR. Madam President, I would like at this time to pay a 
special tribute to an organization that is known as Kids Voting 
Arkansas. This is a fledgling organization in my State, but it is 
flourishing and it is involved in a most noble endeavor.
  Kids Voting Arkansas is dedicated to the proposition that we should 
get our children interested in voting. This group believes that, by 
getting kids interested in the democratic process, you accomplish two 
things: First, you help develop a new generation of conscientious 
voters for life; and second, the children, in turn, encourage their 
parents and grandparents to vote.
  Nothing is more integral to a democratic society than the right of 
the individual to vote in free and fair elections. I traveled to the 
Philippines in the mid-1980's to witness the first national elections 
that were held after democracy was restored to that country. I saw 
millions of people standing in line for hours on end, some literally 
risking their lives, for the right to have some say in the way their 
country was run. Thanks to televised news reports, most of us have 
witnessed similar scenes in other countries. In nearly every case in 
such countries, voter turnout totaled more than 80 or 90 percent.
  Ironically, in the United States--the modern cradle of democracy--the 
right to vote has been taken for granted in most quarters. Voter 
turnout has been declining nationally since 1960. In 1992, only 61 
percent of eligible voters cast ballots nationally. In Arkansas, that 
figure was only 54 percent.
  Kids Voting Arkansas seeks to re-engage communities in the voting 
process through education and community activism. Children in 
participating communities receive civics lessons on elections and 
voting. Those lessons stress not only the mechanics of voting, but how 
to gather information about issues and candidates.
  Meanwhile, communities become involved by organizing special 
registration events, candidate forums, and debates. Finally, on 
election day, students are allowed to go to the polls and cast a ballot 
in which they express their opinions on the same candidates and issues 
as their parents. While those ballots are not counted in the election, 
they are tallied and released to the media.
  In Arkansas, as many as 11,000 students from the towns of Cabot and 
Bentonville are taking part in Kids Voting Arkansas' pilot project this 
year. I am sure that the success of this program in these communities 
will only cause such efforts to multiply across the State.
  I want to applaud Kids Voting Arkansas for seeking to breathe new 
life into the electoral process in our State. I also applaud Karen 
Brown of Siloam Springs, the organization's executive director, as well 
as Steve Trolinger of Bentonville and Shelly Moran of Cabot, who are 
serving as cochairman of the organization's board of directors. They 
are engaged in a most worthy cause, and they deserve the respect and 
support of us all.

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