Metea Valley High School students walked through a check-in line, reviewed sample ballots and cast votes at a mock polling place set up inside the school's College and Career Center.

The Indian Prairie District 204 school partnered with the League of Women Voters of Naperville to stage the school-wide mock election ahead of the Nov. 3 general election, Metea Media reported.

Volunteers from the nonpartisan organization staffed the check-in tables and guided students through the process.

The League of Women Voters of Naperville, founded in 1956, regularly runs mock elections at area high schools. The goal: walk students through registration and ballot-casting before they turn 18.

"When students participate in mock elections, they aren't just learning how to vote–they are practicing how to engage as informed citizens long before they step into a real voting booth," Barbara Laimins, identified by Metea Media as the civic engagement co-chair for the League of Women Voters, said.

The event comes as national research highlights persistent gaps in youth voter turnout.

The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University, a nonpartisan research center, estimates that 47% of young people ages 18 to 29 voted in the 2024 presidential election.

That was down slightly from 50% in 2020 but still among the top five highest youth turnout rates since the voting age dropped to 18.

According to a separate CIRCLE poll, 14% of young people said they missed their registration deadline, and 12% said they did not know how to register or had trouble with forms.

More than one in three young people said no organization or campaign contacted them about the 2024 election.

Kelly Siegel-Stechler, CIRCLE's associate director for research, said in the poll report that financial and mental struggles among young people "can negatively impact their participation in our democracy."

The League of Women Voters says mock elections help students overcome those barriers through experience before they reach voting age, according to Metea Media.

The league also hosted two nonpartisan candidate forums ahead of the Nov. 3 election, covering the Illinois 21st Senate District race on Sept. 29 and the Will County Clerk race on Sept. 30, according to the league's website. Recordings of both forums are available at lwvnaperville.org.

School week ahead

  • Tuesday, Nov. 3 — General election day. Polls open across DuPage and Will counties. Naperville families can find voter resources and candidate forum recordings at lwvnaperville.org.