In November Greenville County students joined 4.5 million students from across the nation as they participated in the Kids Voting USA Network. Kids Voting USA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to civic education. This program began in 1988 when three Arizona businessmen returned from a fishing trip in Costa Rica. Having been in the country during their national election, they were astonished to learn that the voter turnout in that country was near 90%. They were even more astonished to return to the United States and find the voter turnout here to be about 50% nationwide. After investigation the men learned that Costa Rica has a long history of people taking their children with them to the polls to vote and thus children learn the importance of voting at an early age. Since The United States had no such tradition, the men were determined to begin a program that would not only encourage young people to vote, but for them to be informed voters when they do vote.

     In cooperation with Greenville County Schools and The Alliance for Quality Education, Kids Voting Greenville was piloted in seven area schools. East North Street Academy, Greenview Elementary, Brushy Creek Elementary, Northwood Middle, Tanglewood Middle, Eastside High, and Carolina Academy participated, using the Kids Voting USA curriculum, Civics Alive! to teach students about the many aspects of the voting and election process. The culminating event was on Election Day when over 1500 students actually went to local voting polling sites and voted in the national Kids Voting election. This process allowed students not only to witness, but actually participate in the democratic process.