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<\/p>\nEmily Durkin remembers discussions at her Arlington Heights high school in 2022 about the Chicago Bears considering moving to her hometown. So when the John Hersey High School senior learned the Chicago Bears were sponsoring a training for high school students to be election judges at their school\u2019s early voting polls \u2014 she signed up.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s personal for us,\u201d Durkin, 18, said.
\nDurkin said the stadium debate illustrates how local decisions \u2014 and who makes them \u2014 can directly shape a community.
\n\u201cThose are the people that are representing you and your interests,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Cook County Clerk\u2019s Office and Chicago Bears this week launched Defenders of DA\u2019Mocracy, a program to train 150 high school juniors and seniors to serve as election judges during their schools\u2019 early voting day on Feb. 26, before the start of early voting March 3, and ahead of the March 17 primary election.<\/p>\n
Nicholas Rosales helps a student during an early voting election judge training for Cook County students at Oak Forest High School at 15201 S. Central Ave. in Oak Forest, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026.
\nAnthony Vazquez\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n
The clerk\u2019s office announced the program on Wednesday at an event at John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights. No Chicago Bears players attended the training, but Chicago Bears special advisor to the CEO Ted Crews spoke to students and played a video of some players talking about the importance of voting.
\nStudents from 24 participating schools will learn how to check in voters, handle ballots and manage voting equipment.
\nThe program aims to \u201ctransform students from passive observers into active participants in the electoral process,\u201d said Frank Herrera, the clerk\u2019s office\u2019s deputy of communications. The program not only provides student judges with the opportunity to run their school polls. It intends to give eligible students the opportunity to register and vote.<\/p>\n
Illinois has allowed high school students to serve as election judges since the early 2000s. But this program is the first of its kind in Cook County to train students to operate primary early voting sites on their own campuses.
\nDeputy Clerk of Elections Edmund Michalowski says they\u2019re looking to these student judges to plant seeds of democracy at their schools.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s going to be run by the high school students, for the high school students,\u201d he said.
\nThe office hopes to expand the program to other schools, Michalowski said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Deputy Clerk of Elections Edmund Michalowski greets students during an early voting election judge training for Cook County students at Oak Forest High School at 15201 S. Central Ave. in Oak Forest, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026.
\nAnthony Vazquez\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n
Training sessions began Monday at John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights and continued Tuesday at Oak Forest High School. The final training will be held Thursday at the Cook County Elections Operations Center in Cicero.
\nNicholas Rosales, an election judge trainer, said it was a \u201cray of sunshine\u201d training these high school judges.
\n\u201cYou see a room full of children wanting to jump in and start helping,\u201d he said.
\nRecalling the plight for Black and women\u2019s voting rights, election judge trainer Lovie Westbrooks said children today don\u2019t always appreciate the privilege.
\n\u201cI\u2019m so grateful for this program, because that excites me that we\u2019re showing them the importance of voting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Defenders of DA’Mocracy program is a great initiative to engage high school students in the electoral process. By training them to be election judges, the program aims to empower the next generation of voters and promote civic engagement.<\/p>\n
Q: What is the Defenders of DA’Mocracy program?
\nA: The Defenders of DA’Mocracy program is an initiative by the Cook County Clerk\u2019s Office and Chicago Bears to train high school students to serve as election judges during their schools\u2019 early voting day.
\nQ: How many students will be trained through the program?
\nA: 150 high school juniors and seniors will be trained through the program.
\nQ: What will the students learn during the training?
\nA: The students will learn how to check in voters, handle ballots, and manage voting equipment.
\nQ: What is the goal of the program?
\nA: The goal of the program is to transform students from passive observers into active participants in the electoral process and promote civic engagement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction to Defenders of DA’Mocracy Emily Durkin remembers discussions at her Arlington Heights high school in 2022 about the Chicago Bears considering moving to her hometown. So when the John Hersey High School senior learned the Chicago Bears were sponsoring a training for high school students to be election judges at their school\u2019s early voting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-35165","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/fb59e52\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/6122x3495+0+294\/resize\/1461x834!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Ffd%2Ff7%2Fecdd0d5444e89d3e9e3fd85be4ac%2Fdamocracy-260108-05.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35165"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35165"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35167,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35165\/revisions\/35167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}