Youth Programs

The League offers four youth programs in Saratoga County:

The League of Women Voters of Saratoga County accepts applications from high school 11th graders living in Saratoga County and southern Warren and Washington Counties for the Student’s Inside Albany (SIA) program. Check back in January of 2025 for the application form and more details.

SIA brings 60 students from across the state to Albany for a 4-day conference in May to learn about state government and citizen advocacy. Two students from our area will receive all-expenses-paid scholarships to attend. Besides learning about state government and advocacy, they also will be touring the state capital and spending a day shadowing a state legislator. The 2024 Students Inside Albany Brochure contains more details about last year’s program.

General Info about Students Inside Albany (SIA): Students Inside Albany is a conference for high school students sponsored by the League of Women Voters of New York State Education Foundation. The spring conference is designed to increase students’ awareness of their responsibility in representative government and provide the tools necessary for meeting that responsibility. This interactive conference brings together 60 high school students from across the state to learn about New York State government and the process by which citizens can participate in the policy making arena. Students also will tour the Capitol, observe both the Senate and Assembly in action and spend an afternoon shadowing their legislator. All meals, three nights at the hotel, and some recreational activities are also included as well as a chance to meet and interact with the other students in the program.

Local Leagues choose one or two students from their area to attend. Our League usually sends two high school juniors.

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Take Me to Vote is a program for fifth grade students to accompany their parents to the polls on election day because research shows that when children get involved in the election process they are more likely to vote as adults. Fifth grade teachers in Saratoga County may participate in the program. The goals of this League project are two-fold: 1) Encourage voter turnout on Election Day; and 2) Prepare children for the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Students ask an adult to take them to the polls on Election Day. Adults are encouraged to vote, and to interest their children in their rights as citizens.

Every student who goes to the polls with a parent/adult and shows his/her certificate to a poll worker earns a sticker. Teachers provide each fifth grader who participates with a button that says, "Take me to Vote!...Again!" The class with the highest level of participation in each elementary school receives a plaque. The public school with the highest percentage of participating fifth graders is honored with a visit from a legislator. 

First Vote is a project of the League of Women Voters of Saratoga County that reaches out to graduating seniors in Saratoga County high schools to provide them with the resources they need to register to vote. Ser the First Vote Brochure. 16 and 17-year-olds now may pre-register to vote, and then automatically will be eligible to vote when they turn 18 years old. You must be 18 years old to vote on or before the date of the general, primary or other election in which you want to vote.

New Law to Encourage Young People to Vote: Governor Hochul signed a bill in Sept. 2023 that establishes school voter registration and pre-registration programs. This law requires local boards of education, BOCES, charter schools, and non-public schools to adopt policies that promote student voter registration and pre-registration, including providing access to voter registration and pre-registration applications during the school year and informing students of the state requirements for voter registration. The NYS School Boards Association (NYSSBA) has drafted a NYSSBA sample policy that school districts can customize to implement this program. .

Most high school students turn 18 years old during or soon after their senior year in high school. Research shows that if young people vote in the first election after they are eligible to vote, they are likely to continue voting.

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