With the wrap-up of the 25-2026 school year elections, it’s great to congratulate our leadership team for the upcoming school year, but also very interesting to look at the voting statistics. At such a big school, having a high voter turnout can be very impactful. While it is easy to blame voter turnout on students forgetting to cast their ballot, other circumstances are completely understandable. Students might hesitate to vote because they simply aren’t informed enough about the candidates.
Elena Trebbi, the Commissioner of elections, explained that this year, taking on her position, she tried to promote as much voter talk around the election as possible. Trebbi facilitated organized SLC (small learning community) presentations around the school to inform students from all learning communities and grades. “I think one of the main things we need to approach is one-on-one, and community building, sort of reaching out to people in person instead of online, because that tends to have a greater effect”. An example of this was the candidate meet and greet held at lunch, where students got to ask questions and the candidates received meaningful feedback.
Here are some ways we can improve voter education/ knowledge at BHS:
A Q&A and debate panel.
A new strategy for the candidates to be able to explain their platforms, held in the CCC. Candidates get to see reaction time in person to all of their ideas for the following school year. The Q&A would also be voter-based questions that they can submit on a regular basis until the date of the election convention being held. Then, at the convention, candidates would have a set amount of time to answer some of these questions. This would be a strong surge of information, given that normally the presidential debate is held separately from the election convention.
Intro clips
When election season comes around, the candidates will film 30-second clips about their personalities, their interests, and who they are as everyday people. These would be found at the beginning of each bulletin, and two candidates would have their video shown per bulletin day. Being able to see the candidates and connect a voice to a face, instead of reading off a handbook, would be super important for students.
Solid handbook
The current handbooks include the candidates and their blurbs. They can be found online and are accessible to all students. Elena Trebbi suggests that a solid handbook should be passed out and given to all of the social studies teachers. This way, teachers and students can go through it together and discuss which candidates fit the values or ideas that they are looking for in the upcoming school year.