Students participate in democracy through election judging

On Nov. 8, John Vaaler, junior, spent his entire day at the Minnetonka Community Center polls. But he couldn’t vote.

Vaaler, along with many other HHS students, served as student Election Judges for the city of Minnetonka. The city of Minnetonka sent out an email to HHS students during Advisory on Sept. 26 and Oct. 3 advertising the position. Vaaler says he took interest in the position to assist others in the democratic process.

“I think every election counts, but especially this one is definitive of our time,” Vaaler said. “I wanted to help out with the civic process because that’s what makes us American— we go out of our way to be exceptional and helpful, and that’s what’s important to me.”

According to the City of Minnetonka, Election Judges serve a variety of duties on Election Day, including opening and closing the polls, registering and signing in voters, and recording and certifying vote totals. However, the inclusion of high school-age students in this process is a new attempt to modernize the polling process, especially through teens’ extensive knowledge of technology. 

Ginny Gelms, Elections Manager for Hennepin County, noted this opportunity as valuable for students’ civic futures.

“If you can get the experience of participating in the elections process before you even start voting for yourself, you will have a leg up when you do get the right to vote,” Gelms said. “That will be helpful to you and you’ll also have the experience to be able to serve as an adult election judge wherever you go.”

Vaaler says the job revealed an unexpected aspect of the elections process to him.

“I’ve gotten out of this job an idea of how personal and human elections are. We always sort of think of elections as these ultimate contests, but really it’s just a bunch of people helping other people out with their decisions. At the end of the day, politics is about people,” Vaaler said.