Election Education: Youth and Government hosted their politics panel on April 28

Youth and Government will be hosting its sixth annual politics panel on April 28 in the Commons during seminar.

Kansas representatives will travel to SM East and give a brief introduction of their role in the local government. The panel gives students a chance to learn about current politics, as well as ask any questions they might have, according to YAG president and senior Eliza King.

The four representatives attending the panel this year are evenly split with two democrats, Kansas Representatives Mari Lynn Poskin and Stephanie Clayton, and two republicans, former Kansas Representatives Stephanie Sharp and Charlotte O'Hara.

YAG typically aims to have four to six representatives with the same number of democratic and republican politicians. This helps keep the panel balanced and facilitate a variety of political opinions among students and representatives, according to King.

“We just want to give students an opportunity to really hear from current politicians, get an insight into their lives, what their jobs look like, and along with that, their political stances and have a chance to just see firsthand what politics look like in Kansas,” King said.

YAG plans the panel around two months in advance every year. They start by updating their ongoing list of Kansas representatives, modifying entries to match who’s currently in office and removing those who changed positions.

All members of YAG are assigned 5-10 politicians or representatives to reach out to via email and inquire whether they’d be interested in attending as a member of the panel.

“We email probably 50 politicians in Kansas,” King said. “We invite them to attend the panel, and I'd say we typically get maybe 15 responses. From there, we just have to figure out what four politicians we want to be speaking at our panel.”

Another important aspect of the panel, according to King, is YAG’s question form. Around one month in advance of the panel, they set up a Google Form where students can submit any questions to be asked. The amount of students that respond to the form vary greatly every year though.

They also have a live Q&A section where, if attending students want to ask other questions they can.

“Every year, there are some students who have some really cool questions,” senior YAG representative Ishaan Home said. “They'll talk about some specific bill that's being passed in Kansas State law, or maybe something being passed on the national level. Or they'll talk about court cases. It's really cool to hear students get so involved.”

YAG also encourages social studies teachers to offer the panel for extra credit to increase attendance and facilitate a larger discussion among members of the panel and students, according to King. 

“[The panel] helps to create awareness for what’s going on potentially nationally and locally, hopefully spurring engagement [in politics],” social studies teacher Steve Klein said.

Along with the politics panel, YAG also hosted Voter-to-Voter last fall, which was an informational meeting and tutorial on registering to vote for seniors who can vote in the next election. Both of these events are useful for seniors and keep them up-to-date on what’s currently happening in the Kansas government, according to YAG secretary and senior Adeline Clifford.

YAG also helped register seniors to vote recently in the SHARE seminar and now they are able to in upcoming elections. The midterm elections this year in Kansas are being held on Aug. 8, and representatives Clayton and Poskin, who are attending the panel are both eligible to run in these elections. 

“I think it's really good for students to just get to hear directly from people who are representing them,” Clifford said. “Some [students are] just now turning 18, so [we’re] trying to get interest in voting and civic participation. That way, when people do turn 18 [they can] register and then go out and vote, which is so important, not only for election years, but also the upcoming midterms.”

Although YAG hosts the Voter-to-Voter event and voter registration, the politics panel is an amazing opportunity to learn about the current local government, according to Home.

“An in-person event where you can ask questions in a respectful manner to [with] people who you might agree with or people who you might disagree with, does a lot more to change minds than arguing or debating people online,” Home said. “I think that having that in-person interaction is key to changing minds or learning new things.”