By the time the Nov. 4 election arrives, there will be some Douglas County voters who will have spent at least four to six hours studying up on the issues.

About 1,400 members of the Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence are receiving special instruction in the processes of voting and democracy as part of the Kids Voting of Douglas County project.

“Our goal is to give every single Boys & Girls Club member four to six hours of education, activity time or some pre-work leading up to Election Day,” said Nicki VanVelzen, marketing and communications director for the club. “We really want them to have an age-appropriate understanding of the process.”

This is the first year the Boys & Girls Club has been so actively involved with the Kids Voting program, said Ruthi Rapp, co-chair of the Kids Voting program. Rapp said the Kids Voting program provides curriculum to all elementary, middle school and high schools in the county. But she said the involvement by the Boys & Girls Club allows students to get an even greater exposure to the democratic process. The Boys & Girls Club provides the lessons and activities during periods after school.

The extra time allows some of the activities to get hands-on, VanVelzen said. She said some classes have been making campaign bumper stickers, others have built their own polling booths, and some have written reports about what they would do if they were governor.

“We hope all of this makes it less intimidating when they become 18 and can go vote,” VanVelzen said.

Participants in the Kids Voting program will participate in a mock election on Nov. 4. Younger kids will be given ballots with just a few of the larger races, while older students will get to vote on all the races and issues that are on the real ballot.

Volunteers with Kids Voting will staff polling stations at all the schools throughout the county. Volunteers from Lawrence High School will help count the ballots on the evening of Nov. 4.

Rapp said this is the first year the program will have polling stations in all 28 schools across the county. Previously, students had to make their way to polling places spread throughout the community. As a result, the program is expecting a large increase in the number of student voters. She said the program has printed 5,000 ballots this year. In the last general election, about 3,800 kindergarten through 12th-grade students voted.

The program could still use additional volunteers. People who are interested can contact volunteer coordinator Joni Hughes at jonihughes@sunflower.com or go to VolunteerDouglasCounty.org.