Children and youth election U18
Children and young people's election U18 is an educational policy initiative for children and young people in Germany, in which children and young people under the age of 18 can symbolically cast their votes in district, municipal, state, federal and European elections. The U18 election, which has existed since 1996 to promote political education and participation of children and young people, takes place in polling stations a. be set up in children's and youth recreational facilities, schools, school clubs, youth associations, sports clubs, libraries, etc. The U18 child and youth election project is independent and party-neutral.
aims
Children and young people should get to know a largely identical process of a democratic ballot based on the U18 child and youth election. The long-term goal here is that later, as legally eligible voters, they perceive the ballot as a natural act of democratic participation. With the help of a playful examination of politics and democratic processes, an interest in politics should be aroused at an early stage and the formation of political opinions strengthened. Recognizing your own interests, formulating them and finding your own answers to political questions are also in the foreground of the U18 project.
execution
preparation
Leisure facilities for children and young people, schools, school clubs, youth associations, sports clubs, libraries or other facilities for children and young people can register as a U18 polling station on the U18 project website.
In advance, the participating institutions begin their activities to prepare for the U18 election. This includes events in which children and young people are introduced to politics in an age-appropriate manner and interest in political topics is aroused. There are no guidelines for the procedure or the type of events. Often they are implemented creatively, e.g. B. in the form of speed dating with politicians.
The ballot box competition also offers creative access to democratic processes: All polling stations are called upon to design the most imaginative ballot box possible and to send in a photo of it. On the U18 election day, voting will take place online and prizes will be provided for three winners.
This preparatory period is considered to be the most important phase in the project, as knowledge about electoral processes, democratic processes, social issues and parties and discussions with peers or politicians who contribute to the formation of political opinion are to be carried out here.
Election Act
The U18 children's and youth elections always take place nine days before the official election (on a Friday). The organizers of a polling station provide a ballot box , voting booth , ballpoint pen and the respective ballot papers for the U18 election . Just like the official election, the U18 children's and youth elections should be free, equal, general, immediate and secret (with the U18 election on September 15, 2017, gender and age being recorded on the ballot paper).
Materials for political education and public relations as well as the election documents are made available to the polling stations online and partly in printed form.
On election day, the children and young people go to a polling station of their choice, receive a ballot paper for their constituency , go to the voting booth, make their cross and throw the ballot paper into the ballot box on site. Similar to the official elections, the polling stations for the U18 elections close at 6 p.m. on election day at the latest. The subsequent counting of the ballot papers is done publicly and often by the children and young people themselves. The results are transmitted online to the polling station and the final result is published on the evening of the election on the website www.u18.org, similar to the official elections. The results can then be discussed with children and young people as well as representatives from politics and the press at various election events.
For larger U18 electoral projects, such as the U18 federal elections in 2009 and 2013 and the Berlin U18 parliamentary elections in 2011, an election broadcast will be broadcast live on the U18 election evening on www.u18.org in cooperation with the Alex Offener Kanal Berlin . Intermediate results are shown here, live from various polling stations and examples of the political and social engagement of children and young people are reported, discussed with politicians and the winners of the ballot box competition and the final results are presented. Young people are responsible for the conception and implementation in front of and behind the camera under media pedagogical guidance and should thus learn media skills in a playful way.
postprocessing
The children and youth election U18 brings children and young people into conversation with their caregivers about politics, parties and social issues. If interest in politics and social engagement has been aroused, educational institutions have the opportunity to implement further political education projects for children and young people. For this purpose, the U18 project offers didactic materials and information on its website.
organization structure
The steering committee based in Berlin is the hub of the entire U18 project. It is used to structure the content and to continuously evaluate the entire project. She is strategically active and develops z. B. the federal guidelines for the implementation of U18 and keeps an eye on the overall process. All content-related proposals from the federal states are discussed here and their implementation decided. The steering group is a supervisory and decision-making body within the framework of the network group. The German Children's Fund , the German Federal Youth Association , state youth associations , youth associations and the Berlin U18 network are represented in the steering committee.
A federal coordination office was set up from the steering committee for the previous U18 federal elections. Her tasks include the coordination and organization of the entire U18 campaign. It is the service point for all regional coordination offices and is responsible for the creation of all materials, nationwide press and public relations work as well as for maintaining the website and social media appearances.
Since supra-regional coordination of the federal coordination office is impossible for the entire federal territory, there are regional coordination offices in the federal states. These coordination offices acquire polling stations, serve as service points for them and take care of the U18 elections in their region.
The U18 polling stations are the central locations of the U18 project: this is where the young people are prepared for the ballot and this is where voting takes place. Polling stations can be set up wherever children and young people are, for example in children's and youth leisure facilities, schools, sports clubs, libraries or in public places in the form of mobile polling stations.
In Berlin, where the U18 idea originated, several institutions have joined together to form the U18 network. These include nationwide sponsors and Berlin institutions.
In the context of state parliament or district elections, anyone interested can hold an U18 election for their region by registering in advance with the U18 steering committee. U18 elections can be organized on a small or large scale, the only requirement for this is compliance with the U18 standards.
Overview of the elections
- 2005: Bundestag election
- 2009: Bundestag election
- 2013: Bundestag election
- 2014: European elections; State elections
- 2016: State elections
- 2017: Bundestag election
- 2018: State elections
- 2019: European elections; State elections in Saxony, Bremen, Brandenburg and Thuringia
Scientific support
On the occasion of the Berlin U18 parliamentary elections in 2011, a survey of U18 voters was carried out in collaboration with Klaus Hurrelmann (Professor at the Hertie School of Governance ) and the election research institute Infratest dimap. The study showed, among other things, that three-quarters of all respondents had increased their interest in and knowledge of politics through participating in the U18 and that they plan to vote as soon as they are legally allowed to. The majority of the children and young people surveyed also spoke out in favor of starting political education as early as possible.
history
The U18 child and youth election was held for the first time in 1996 in a single polling station in Berlin. Today it is one of the largest educational policy initiatives for children and young people in the Federal Republic of Germany.
- 1996: Start of the initiative with a single polling station in Berlin-Mitte .
- 1999: Elections for the district assembly are already being held in several polling stations in the Berlin-Mitte district.
- 2001: On the occasion of the Berlin House of Representatives elections, around 5,000 children and young people take part in the U18 election.
- 2002: More than 20,000 children and young people in 278 polling stations in Berlin and some cities in Germany have already participated in the federal election.
- 2005: As a result of the great response from politics and society, U18 takes place nationwide for the first time. Despite the early general election and the very short preparation time, around 50,000 children and young people cast their votes in 583 polling stations.
- 2006: Around 13,800 children and young people take part in the second Berlin U18 parliamentary election in 242 polling stations. The patron is the then President of the Berlin House of Representatives, Walter Momper .
- 2009: For the federal election, U18 is already established across the board in all federal states. 127,208 under 18s choose. This means that participation has more than doubled compared to 2002. The children's commission of the German Bundestag is the patron .
- 2011: With Baden-Württemberg, another federal state implements the U18 project as part of state elections . 29,358 children and young people go to vote.
- 2011: In September 26,705 young people cast their votes in the Berlin House of Representatives elections. The patron is again the then President of the Berlin House of Representatives, Walter Momper.
- 2013: Almost 200,000 children and young people cast their votes in over 1,500 polling stations for the U18 elections in the 2013 federal election. U18 ambassador is TV presenter Ralph Caspers .
- 2014: As part of the 2014 European elections, the U18 European elections were held for the first time. Almost 37,000 children and young people cast their votes in 410 polling stations.
- 2016: As part of the Berlin election of the House of Representatives, almost 27,000 children and young people cast their votes in almost 200 polling stations in the U18 election in Berlin.
- 2017: As part of the North Rhine-Westphalia state elections in 2017, over 35,000 children and young people cast their votes in over 400 polling stations.
- 2017: As part of the 2017 federal election, almost 220,000 children and young people cast their votes in over 1,660 polling stations.
Supporters and sponsors
The sponsors and organizers of the U18 project at federal level are:
- German Children's Fund
- German Federal Youth Association
- various state youth associations
- various youth associations
- Berlin U18 network
The Federal Ministry for Families, Seniors, Women and Youth and the Federal Agency for Civic Education were sponsors of the 2013 U18 federal election .
The 2013 U18 federal election received support from TV presenter Ralph Caspers .
Awards
In 2012 the U18 project received two awards:
- Winner in the competition "365 Landmarks in the Land of Ideas", awarded by the German government and Deutsche Bank
- Winner of the “Eurocities Award” (Berlin U18 parliamentary elections) in the area of participation , awarded by the Association of European Cities
Web links
- The U18 / youth election U18 project
- German Children's Fund
- German Federal Youth Association
- Federal Ministry of Family Affairs
- Federal Agency for Civic Education
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.u18.org/magazin/news/lösungen-der-u18-europawahl-2019
- ↑ a b Deutscher Bundesjugendring eV: Bundestag election 2017
- ^ Deutscher Bundesjugendring eV: Bundestag election 2017 election results / youth election U18
- ^ Deutscher Bundesjugendring eV: Results of the U18 federal election 2013
- ↑ Results of the U18 federal election 2013
- ↑ Deutscher Bundesjugendring eV: Ballot papers and election regulations / youth election U18 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. see. U18 ballot papers of the individual federal states
- ↑ Survey of U18 voters (PDF; 285 kB).
- ↑ https://www.u18.org/vergangene-wahlen/2013-bundestag/ U18 federal election on September 13, 2013
- ↑ https://www.u18.org/vergangene-wahlen/2014-europawahl/ U18 election to the European Parliament on May 16, 2014
- ↑ https://www.u18.org/vergangene-wahlen/2016-berlin/ 2016 Berlin: Around 27,000 children and young people voted on September 9, 2016: U18 House of Representatives without AfD
- ↑ https://www.u18.org/vergangene-wahlen/2017-nordrhein-westfalen/ U18 state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia
