And organizers of a program to interest them in the democratic process hope they can undo voter apathy and increase turnout this November and beyond.

Kids Voting is a national education program, begun this year in Cabarrus County and Kannapolis schools and sponsored by the Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce.

It aims, through education integrated into kindergarten through 12th grade school curriculum, to teach students about the election process and the importance of voting in any election.

Students will see civics lessons wrapped in math, social studies and English at higher grade levels and will take part in activities, such as classroom elections and policy debates.

A mock election held on Nov. 7 — when U.S. citizens go to the polls for real to elect, among other officials, the next president — will allow students to cast votes at actual polling places.

But that’s not all. Organizers hope the program will also encourage adults to go to the polls with their children on election day and punch ballots themselves.

“The hope is that on Election Day ... the whole family will come out and vote,” said Sonya Hodges, executive director of the Kids Voting program for the chamber.

Families voting is how Kids Voting started, but not with U.S. families. In 1988, three Arizona businessmen on a fishing trip in Costa Rica were stunned to learn that about 80 percent of that country’s voters cast ballots.

They discovered it wasn’t Costa Rica’s mandatory voting laws, which the government there doesn’t enforce, that cause the turnout. It was because parents took their children to the polls on election day, creating a tradition of voting and ensuring big turnouts.

The businessmen returned to Arizona and founded Kids Voting. Since then, the non-profit program has spread to 40 states. In North Carolina, Cabarrus is now one of nine counties using the program. Others include Mecklenburg, but not Rowan.

Paul Bessent, Kids Voting committee chairman, said he was on the chamber’s legislative committee last year when he realized something should be done about downward-spiraling voter turnout.

While 71 percent of the county’s registered voters cast ballots in 1992 and 60 percent voted in 1996 — both when presidents were elected — only 10 percent voted in last year’s municipal elections.

“There is a lot of voter apathy,”he said. “Thinking about future generations, as it’s going, people are going to be represented by a very small percentage of the voting populace.”

Bessent knew of the Kids Voting program and saw it as a good way to generate interest in the democratic process. The chamber’s board of directors agreed and hired Hodges in July.

Grants are paying for the first year of the program, but Hodges will soon be raising funds to keep it going.

Kannapolis City Schools’ teachers have received training in the civics curriculum, and Cabarrus County teachers get training this week, Hodges said.

They will help students “understand when they go to the polls, they’re not just voting for names they hear on the news; they’re voting on issues they feel are important,” she said.

The week of Sept. 25-29 — which Kannapolis, Harrisburg and Mount Pleasant have declared Kids Voting Week — will feature activities and speakers. Concord is expected to join also.

One of those activities will be a “Wish Tree,” on which students can place something they hope will result from this year’s elections or in the future, Hodges said.

In all, 900 teachers will try to get 26,000 students in the two school systems excited enough about the process that they will “drag their parents to the polls,” on Nov. 7, Bessent said.

The organization plans to set up voting booths where students can cast ballots in all the races in which adults can vote at 44 precincts, including two in the Rowan County portion of Kannapolis.

It will take volunteers, around 600 of them, to operate the Kids Voting booths, transport and scan the ballots and make sure everything runs smoothly, Bessent said.

Kids Voting welcomes the help of individuals, businesses, organizations, Parent-Teacher Organizations, Sunday school classes or garden clubs, he said.

“Nothing could be worse than for an enthusiastic child or young person who goes to the polls to vote, but we didn’t have the volunteers to support it,” he said.

Time Warner Cable has agreed to post local students’ voting results on the CNN Headline News channel, he said. Those results will be combined with others at Kids Voting headquarters in Arizona.

Studies of Kids Voting programs have shown an increase in voter turnout among parents of 5 to 10 percent, according to the organization’s Web site.

That still amounts to less than half of Cabarrus County’s eligible voters going to the polls in a year when they’re not selecting a president.

“My goal would be to optimize it and get every eligible voter to the polls, but a 5 to 10 percent increase would be a great start,” Bessent said.