🗳️ Election Day bingo: civics review

How to play Election Day bingo

Election Day bingo is a nonpartisan civics review for the weeks around an election, or any time your class studies government. U.S. federal elections are held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and in midterm years like 2026 every seat in the House is on the ballot. The caller reads a clue and students find the term: how voting works (registration, ballots, early voting, poll workers, the "I voted" sticker), how government is set up (the three branches, the Senate and the House, term lengths) and how voting rights grew through the 19th and 26th Amendments. No candidates, parties or issues appear anywhere, so it is safe for any classroom. It also works for homeschool civics, scouting badges and new-citizen study groups.

1. Teach or review the vocabulary first. Bingo is practice, not first exposure.
2. Print 5×5 cards, 2 per page. Read each clue from the caller twice and give a few seconds to think.
3. Students cover the term. The winner reads each clue in their line and says the answer aloud.
4. Use "Check a card" with the winner's card number to confirm in seconds.

Tips for a better game

• Hold a mock election after the game. Students vote on a class question with real paper ballots and a "voting booth".
• Add your state's offices and the name of your state capital to the word box for a local twist.
• Younger grades? Choose 4×4 cards and delete the amendments and the Electoral College lines.