(Recorded Course) American Elections: Democracy in Action with Ed Rivet

Presented live every four years (in the presidential election year), this 6-week course helps your student understand and become involved with the fundamentals of our American elections. A practical, timely course helping your student know the importance of how to be a force for good in our republic.

How to get the most out of American Elections; Democracy in Action with Ed Rivet:

  • First, read the course materials below before the first class meeting.

  • Then have a notebook ready and available for class notes each live session.

  • Read assignments before class meetings

  • Watch that week’s recording if you need to revisit information from our live session.

  • Do the assignments, quizzes, and any extra work assigned for that week.

  • Once the course is completed to the parent's and professor’s satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end to be filled in for your records.

Total Classes: 6

Duration: 55 minutes

Prerequisite: Basic knowledge of the American government.

Suggested Grade Level: 9th to 12th grade

Suggested Credit: 1/2 semester Government. For full credit, add another government course (live or recorded), or see our Government Reading List.

Instructor: Ed Rivet, MPA

Instructor email: erivetii@gmail.com

Course description: This 6-week course will explore the "ins and outs" of the American electoral process, with a special emphasis on the upcoming 2020 Presidential Election. We'll begin class five weeks prior to the November 3rd election, with our last class a wrap-up, just days after we've elected a new president. (Well... hopefully we won't have a repeat of the year 2000 "hanging chad" debacle or the 2020 disputed election.) 

Course Outline:

  • Week 1: Elections: Overview of Constitution & Laws

  • Week 2: Comparisons: Local v. State v. National Elections; Partisan v. Nonpartisan; Jungle Primaries; U.S. System v. other countries

  • Week 3: The Electoral College - Should It Stay or Should It Go?

  • Week 4: Anatomy of Campaigns: Operations, PACs & Super PACs, Polls & Pundits

  • Week 5: How Issues, Incidents & Outside Events Affect Campaigns

  • Week 6: Post-election Analysis - What drove the results? How accurately did we foresee the results? What are the implications of the results?

Course Materials: Provided free by the instructor or online.

Homework: Students will have a variety of "home work" assignments – reading, research, auto-graded quizzes, and short essays. Students are going to be STRONGLY encouraged to volunteer at least a couple hours of their time to any candidate or issue campaign of their choice during the 6-week period. A grading guide for parents to grade essays and assignments is provided below.

Answer Key: A grading rubric is included with this course.