Foundation Targets the Election with Special Issues of its Student Newsletters

To help students navigate a very contentious and in some ways momentous presidential election cycle, the New Jersey State Bar Foundation published special issues of its subscription publications—The Legal Eagle and Respect.

The Special Election Edition of its legal newspaper for kids, The Legal Eagle, features articles on money in politics, the U.S. Supreme Court decision concerning one person, one vote, automatic voter registration and mandatory voting, as well as an article on how the primary voting process works. The Special Voting Rights Edition of Respect, the Foundation’s tolerance and diversity newsletter, contains articles on voter ID laws, gerrymandering, the Voting Rights Act, as well as restoring voting rights to felons.

“In putting out a special edition of The Legal Eagle devoted to elections, our hope is that young people not eligible to vote become better informed about the electoral process, and understand how what gets decided today can have a significant impact tomorrow,” says John J. Henschel, chair The Legal Eagle Editorial Advisory Board.

Gwendolyn Y. Alexis, chair of the Respect Editorial Advisory Board, contends that this year’s election is of “graver concern with the possibility that voter apathy will keep progressives and conservatives alike away from the voting booths.” Alexis notes that many polls have revealed the presidential candidates “inspire little voter enthusiasm” leading to disenchanted voters who may stay away from the voting booth altogether.

“Our publications play a critical role in counteracting the adult voices (parents and friends) bemoaning the lack of choice by pointedly showing that voting rights are about protecting the right to chooseeven though the pickings are thinner in some years than in others,” she says.

“Our Voting Rights issue runs the gamut in terms of covering past machinations and maneuverings by the status quo to keep those who are most likely to be progressive voters away from the polls,” says Alexis. “Given that our nation’s youth is the target audience for The Legal Eagle and Respect, it is well to inform them of all the fronts on which battles have been fought for the right to vote.”   

The Legal Eagle is distributed to more than 2,700 New Jersey elementary, middle and high schools; and Respect is distributed to more than 1,800 middle and high schools throughout the state.

For information about other Foundation programs, or to subscribe to The Legal Eagle or Respect, visit the Foundation online (njsbf.org).

—NJSBF—