This article is part of A Kid’s Guide to the Election, a collection of stories about the 2024 presidential election for readers ages 8 to 14, written and produced by The New York Times for Kids. This section is published in The Times’s print edition on the last Sunday of every month.
Every Election Day, millions of adults line up to vote at schools, community centers, libraries and other public buildings. But sometimes election officials don’t have enough places. To make sure everyone is able to get to a polling location that’s convenient, officials have to get creative, asking local business owners to lend space. Here are five unusual spots where Americans will pick the next president.
Wash, Dry, Fold, Vote
The City of Chicago doesn’t own a building in the neighborhood of Chicago Lawn, so Wash Smart Laundry is helping out by tucking polling booths among the washers and dryers. It’s making it easier for people in the area to cast their ballots. And it has been good for business, too, says Andrea Castillo, the manager. New customers have been coming in after hearing that they can do their laundry and their civic duty at the same time. But occasionally they get a little confused: When they’re asked to show their ID to vote, some people accidentally show their laundry card instead.
Presidents and Pastries
During the 2020 election, early in the pandemic, San Francisco officials wanted to spread out polling stations to reduce crowds. So they asked La Boulangerie, a cafe and bakery, to donate space, and things worked out so well that the place decided to keep doing it. This will be the third time half the cafe is emptied out to squeeze in six voting booths. Jennifer Cusguen, a manager, says the staff likes helping the community by making it easier to vote. And they’ve learned an important lesson: Voters love almond croissants. This year, they’ll stock extras so they don’t sell out again.
Vote on the Fly
Andrew Robillard, who works at a regional airport in San Luis Obispo, Calif., volunteered at a polling place during the last election. It was pretty cool. This year will be even cooler: The polls will come to him. He helps run ACI Jet, where small planes are flown and maintained. Local residents will cast their ballots in the airport terminal as planes whiz by overhead. Then they can tour the airport, look at aircraft and sign up for flight school.
Pick a President, Win a Prize
Usually, visitors to Perfect Games in Ames, Iowa, feed tokens into game machines. On Nov. 5, they’ll feed ballots into voting machines. The activity center — with 24 bowling lanes, an arcade, miniature golf and laser tag — has been hosting elections for the past eight years. Tiffani Tucker, a manager, sees many parents give their kids money to play pinball while they go vote. Lucky!
Houston, We Have a Ballot
For astronauts on the International Space Station, getting to a polling place is literally impossible. But they still get to vote. Astronauts who find themselves floating 250 miles above Earth on Election Day are emailed ballots over NASA’s secure space-satellite network. They fill in their votes and beam the encrypted ballots to a ground antenna in New Mexico. From there, the ballots are sent directly to the voting clerk in their hometowns. Mission accomplished!
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