“Our Votes - Our Values” is a multi-year project to encourage the public to think about the connection between values and elections. It has featured community conversations in Buckhannon, Glenville, and Morgantown, exhibitions at the Art Museum of West Virginia University and WVU Libraries, a public event series held at WVU, and the teaching materials on this website.
About the Lesson Plans
These lesson plans are designed to give K-12 teachers additional resources to meet West Virginia state standards and to help students better understand how elections have developed over time in the United States. The modules can be used in classrooms or student-led clubs.
Meet the project team
Erik Herron is the Eberly Family Distinguished Professor of Political Science. He has researched elections for over two decades, serving as an international observer for eighteen elections, publishing four books, and authoring numerous articles. He leads the “Our Votes - Our Values” project.
Kristen Bailey is a 2025 PhD graduate of the West Virginia University Department of History, where her dissertation focused on the West Virginia statehood movement. Kristen is the project administrator for the West Virginia National Cemeteries Project, which brings together high school students in the state with graduate student researchers to craft biographies of those interred in West Virginia’s national cemeteries.
Hunter Neel is a linguist and educator with experience in higher education, curriculum development, and language education. He earned an M.A. in Linguistics from West Virginia University. While at WVU, he supported multiple research and outreach initiatives focused on equity in education and study abroad access.
Thank you to the West Virginia Humanities Council and Eberly College of Arts and Sciences for their support in the development of this website. Their collaboration has been essential in providing this lesson plan to educators and students across West Virginia and beyond.