Teaching students the importance of voting is something Salt River Schools educators take seriously.

On Tuesday, Nov. 6, the day millions of voting-age U.S. citizens cast their ballots in the 2018 midterm elections, students across Salt River Schools participated in their own vote to decide the name of the new Talking Stick Entertainment District shuttle bus.

Salt River Schools had a total of 543 students from the ECEC, SRES, SRHS, and the ALA participate in the election. That's a 60% voter turnout!

THE RESULTS

• 98 students voted for Sunny the Shuttle
• 185 students voted for Gus the Bus
• 260 students voted for Green Lightning 

ECEC students have experience with voting for things like what new food gets put on their menus, so they were pros at voting for a new bus name. The "I Voted" stickers courtesy of Kids Voting Arizona were the highlight of the day.

SRES had the largest voter turnout. Many teachers have been giving lessons on civic duties and citizenship the last few weeks, and students eagerly waited in line to vote on the shuttle name. Some voters had the chance to take a tour of the bus!

SRHS students not only cast their vote for the name of the shuttle bus, but also had the opportunity to experience voting in the midterm election through a mock ballot online.

Some ALA students walked to the Salt River Community Building to cast their votes for the shuttle bus. Many also signed up to volunteer for the 2020 election season. Students 18 and older checked to see if they were registered to vote; those who weren't registered for the 2020 election. One student was already a registered voter and received information about how Arizona's ballot impacted them as a citizen of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and said he would cast his ballot after school let out.

Check out this video of how voting events unfolded at each of the school sites and hear why voting is important to students!