Students at Steinmühlen were allowed to vote

Under the banner of “Junior Elections,” schools across Germany or within a state can hold internal “elections” and invite students to cast their political votes. The process is modeled after official elections. After the Junior Elections at Steinmühle were a success in 2017, our school once again participated in the Junior Elections this year as part of the Hessian state parliamentary elections. Voting took place on October 19. All students in grades 9 through Q1 were eligible to participate. The project was organized by teachers Erno Menzel and Eva Stelz, with support from the hardworking election volunteers from the German and history tracks.

302 of the eligible students voted in the election. Voter turnout was 87.3%.

Many of the students expressed their conviction that the project helps them form political opinions and gain a useful overview of the electoral process.

The “Juniorwahl” project is sponsored by Kumulus e.V., a nonprofit, nonpartisan association based in Berlin that is involved in several projects in the field of political education. The initiative can be found online at www.juniorwahl.de.

The illustrations accompanying our article show the results of the statewide junior election held in conjunction with the state legislative elections, as well as the students of Steinmühle School casting their ballots.