DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate’s Fall 2019 Iowa Youth Straw Poll takes place in schools across Iowa today (Tuesday). More than 300 schools have registered to take part in the Straw Poll, which will measure students’ preferred candidates in the Presidential, U.S. Senate and U.S. House races.

Live results will be posted on the Secretary of State’s website, sos.iowa.gov, and are available at this link (some results have already come in). An alphabetical list of the schools participating in the Youth Straw Poll is available at Elections101.org/BeAVoter. Some of the area districts include: Adair Casey/Guthrie Center High School; Atlantic Community Schools & Atlantic High School / CCEOC; CAM High School; The Clarinda Middle School & High School; and the Griswold High School, to name just a few.

The goal of the Iowa Youth Straw Poll is to engage students in a fun, hands-on learning experience that will inspire them toward civic engagement. The Iowa Youth Straw Poll is a facet of “Elections 101”, a free online curriculum developed by Secretary Pate and written by Iowa teachers for Iowa students. The Iowa Department of Education and the Iowa Council for the Social Studies support the curriculum and the Youth Straw Poll.

Students, teachers, and media are encouraged to post pictures on social media of the students voting, using the #BeAVoter hashtag.