I’ve been writing a lot about the Avery Doninger Civil Rights case over the past few weeks. Besides what I’ve placed on the website, I’ve also contacted various people around the state and the country that should have an interest in finding the teachable moments from this.

One such message was one that I wrote to Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz.

Sec. of State Bysiewicz,

Last spring, Avery Doninger made a derogatory comment online about the administration of the high school she attends. The school responded by demanding that she step down as class secretary and forbade her from running for re-election.

This has resulted in a lawsuit against the Superintendent of the school and a Freedom of Information complaint against the school for refusing to supply the ballots from the election to a journalist investigating the case.

I don't want to go into the merits of the case. Instead, I would like to focus on the teachable moments that this presents. What are best practices in determining how someone gets to be on a ballot? What are best practices for counting ballots? What are best practices for certifying results? What are best practices for retaining ballots after an election?

It seems like these topics, together with talking about new voting machines, and encouraging high school seniors to register to vote could make for a wonderful conference for high school class officers.

Is a conference like this something that the Sec. of State's office would be able convene? Let me know. If there are ways that I could help bring about such a conference, please let me know.

Sincerely,
Aldon Hynes

Today, I received a response from her:

Dear Aldon:

Thank you for your correspondence of August 9, 2007 suggesting a high school conference to encourage high school seniors to register to vote and for them to learn more about the new voting machines in Connecticut.

Your idea of a high school conference is a good one, and I’ll explore it with Ms. Tammy Marzik, Director of Civics Education in my office, and with others on my staff. Every school year since 1999, I have paid weekly visits to colleges, high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools to encourage youth civic participation. As of June of this year, I had visited or had group visits to the Capitol from 56 schools and youth groups. During my visits in 2006-2007, I have distributed voter registration cards to 17 and 18-year-old high school students. Upon request, optical scanner voting machine demonstrations have been incorporated into the school visits. My goal for this academic year is to visit two high schools per week. During these visits, my message has been simple: voting is a privilege many take for granted but one that has been paid for with the sacrifice and lives of many who have fought to protect our democratic freedoms.

While we do not become involved in high school elections, it is important that our youth learn about the electoral process, including the issues you raised. My office has worked closely with voting advocacy groups, concerned citizens, Registrars of Voters, and elected officials to establish an elections process that ensures ballot access, protects the privacy of voters, protects the integrity of elections in our state through mandatory hand-count audits of polling districts and accountability of all paper ballots, and establishes clear standards for certifying elections. Over the years, Connecticut has been a model in conducting orderly and transparent elections, and I’m proud to have played a key role in that accomplishment.

I welcome your ideas and will certainly enlist your involvement if we plan a statewide high school conference on civic engagement and voting in Connecticut.

Thanks again for writing and feel free to call me at (860) 509-6200 if you would like to share more ideas and suggestions.

Sincerely,

Susan Bysiewicz
Secretary of the State

I applaud Sec. Bysiewicz for her response. It is great to see an elected official search for teachable moments in the course of doing her job. I hope that a conference for high school students can be held to help students understand that voting is much more than a privilege that too often gets taken for granted. It is also part of civic engagement that makes our communities stronger and can be a lot of fun at the same time.