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First Ballot: the story map
The whole story, every version of every page, and which states get which version. Pick a state at the bottom to read its whole comic.
The story
Four high school friends in Anytown (your office can use its own town's name) meet at their diner booth, The Corner Booth, in the spring of senior year. Between then and Election Day in November, each one finds a different way to vote:
- Jordan Reyes (17, then 18) registers or pre-registers, goes away to college, and votes by mail.
- Priya Nair (17, then 18) registers and votes early over a school break.
- Tess Brennan (18) has voted before and votes in town on Election Day.
- Sam Whitaker (16, then 17) is too young to vote this time. He researches, signs up to help, and brings his grandfather Walt, who isn’t sure he is still registered after moving.
The 16-page comic adds four pages: the friends check a voting rumor before sharing it, Jordan tracks his mail ballot, Sam helps the night before Election Day, and Mr. Poccia’s class watches the count.
Helpers: Mr. Poccia (civics teacher), Ms. Ortiz (from your election office), and the poll workers Vivek and Tyler. The story ends the night after Election Day with all four on the courthouse steps saying “Your turn!”, and the back cover is a voting plan with your office’s contacts.
Nothing in the story is partisan: no real candidates, parties or issues, and nobody says who they voted for.
Every page and its versions
The comic is 16 pages. An office can pick 12 pages instead, which leaves out the four pages marked “16-page comic only” and is cheaper to print. Some pages have more than one drawing, and the builder picks one from the state’s law or the office’s answers. “By default” means the version a state gets before the office changes anything.
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Read the comic for any state
The pages are lettered with that state’s rules and a sample office (“Anytown”). Two choices are the office’s own, not state law, so you can switch them here.