HUTCHINSON, Kan. – Reno County school-aged kids will be able to go to the polls with their parents on Election Day Tuesday and cast their own ballots in the Kids Voting Kansas/Reno County election.

Kids Voting is a nationwide, nonpartisan program that teaches K-12 students about the election process, cultivates a voting habit beginning at an early age and makes voting a parent-child experience, with the goal of improving voter participation in the adult population.

This year, Kids Voting will be available at seven regular Reno County polling locations:

Kansas State Fairgrounds
Dillon Nature Center
Prairie Hills Middle School
Reno County Museum
Nickerson High School
South Hutchinson United Methodist Church
Nickerson-South Hutchinson USD 309 Administration Building

While adults must vote at their designated polling locations, kids whose parents don’t vote at one of the seven sites may go to any location.

Kids Voting polls will be open before and after school — from 7 to 9 a.m. and from 3 to 7 p.m. Parents are encouraged to vote during these times so they can take their children to participate in Kids Voting.

Besides president-vice president, the Kids Voting election will include U.S. Senate and House, Kansas Legislature and Kansas Supreme Court justice retention elections.

The local Kids Voting ballots will be counted on Tuesday night by high school and Hutchinson Community College students, the results totaled and reported to local media and to Kids Voting Kansas, which will compile statewide results.

Over 1,700 kids voted in the 2012 presidential election in Reno County. Nationwide, more than 1.2 million students participated in that election.