Most people eligible to vote in the United States don’t bother anymore.

That has democracy experts fretting about the health of self-government here.

Some have looked to Costa Rica for an example of how to conduct an election that attracts heavy participation.

“It’s very festive. It’s like a big national party,” said Patricia Fumero, who is working on a doctorate in history at Kansas University while on leave from the University of Costa Rica.

Costa Rica’s fervor for voting  especially a 40-year tradition of active participation by children  was an inspiration to several Arizona businessmen on a fishing trip to Costa Rica in the late 1980s.

The tourists returned to Arizona with the seed of an idea that blossomed into Kids Voting USA, a national campaign to instill American youth with a lifelong appreciation for voting.

Operated in Douglas County for 10 years, the Kids Voting curriculum in schools comes to a head on Election Day. Children will go to the polls Nov. 5 with a parent or guardian to “vote” on the same issues and candidates as adults.

The Journal-World sponsors the local program in cooperation with Roger Hill Volunteer Center and the public schools.

Creating a stronger voting tradition is an uphill battled in the United States. Just 49 percent of the voting-age population cast ballots in the 2000 presidential election. In contrast, 73 percent of voting-age Costa Ricans participated in their 1998 presidential election.

Voting is required in Costa Rica, but the law isn’t enforced. The national election in Costa Rica is conducted on a Sunday in February. U.S. elections are on a Tuesday in November.

Scheduling the election on a weekend frees people to develop a different attitude, Fumero said.

She said it didn’t make sense to make voting a somber activity.

“There’s music, kids running around and tons of food for those helping people to vote,” she said.

Fumero’s son, Manrique Miranda, a senior at Lawrence High School, said a program such as Kids Voting that included U.S. children in Election Day activities was bound to change attitudes about voting.

Miranda said his earliest memory of a family outing at the polls was when he was 8 years old and living in San Jose. He has since volunteered at Costa Rican polling sites where it’s common for children to be assigned as escorts for adults.

It has taught him that helping select government leaders is a key to maintaining one of the region’s most stable democracies.

When Miranda marries and starts a family, he will pass on this tradition to his own children, he said.

“I’ll get my kids to vote,” he said. “It’s just fun.”