Lessons learned at Italy High School mock election

Anne Sutherland Posted November 5, 2008 4:04pm Italy High School

Image: Voters waiting patiently — The students at IHS waiting patiently to cast their vote for their favorite candidate in the mock election held on Tuesday. — Voters waiting patiently — The students at IHS waiting patiently to cast their vote for their favorite candidate in the mock election held on Tuesday. (Anne Sutherland)

Italy High School hosted a mock election on Tuesday. The Government class and Coach Coleman watched with pride as the students, faculty and staff came forward to announce their feelings about their candidate and watch the students learn a few lessons.

What are the lessons learned you ask? It takes the voters to elect a new president and it takes the workers to make sure the tabulation is clear. The Government class at Italy High School took this voting thing seriously and counted several times before the final tally was declared.

As an adult, before you can vote for the president or any other position on “Election Tuesday,” registration must take place. So another lesson required the same for the high school students. The only difference was 7th-12th grade students, teachers and all staff were able to register and vote for McCain or Obama only on Tuesday, November 4.

The senior class officially sponsored this election with Coach Stephen Coleman, Government instructor, at the lead. “I am on auto-pilot. I threw the idea out there and the students ran with it,” Coleman explained.

The seniors registered fellow students by class and that is how they were allowed to vote. “All students, faculty and staff that registered during last week’s registration period had the privilege of voting,” Coleman said.

The voting took place during lunch periods and counting began immediately after lunch. Claudia Rodriguez said, “They are not just voting. Everybody is actually putting thought into it.”

The registered student voted by class and checked off gender. The vote had some demographics added to it.

Candidate	Obama		McCain
Gender	Boys	Girls	Boys	Girls
7th grade	10	14	8	6
8th grade	12	7	9	2
9th grade	9	10	2	13
10th grade	6	9	2	6
11th grade	8	4	10	8
12th grade	8	5	12	8

Candidate	Obama	McCain
Staff	19	5
Totals	107	105

Note: There were 3 bad ballots, meaning unclear vote and not counted.

Coach Coleman reminded the senior students about the 2000 election in Florida when Bush and Gore were running. Voters did not fill out the ballot correctly and election clerks had to go back and recount. It was close enough that unclear votes made a difference. Three votes could have changed this mock election too.

This election was highly educational for the students.

The ballot — The ballot only contained the names of Presidential candidates. (Anne Sutherland)

Herald casts his vote (Anne Sutherland)

Election clerks — (R-L) Patrick Walker, Claudia Rodriguez, Eva de la Hoya, Annalee Lyons, Trent Morgan and Tyler Boyd help each voter with their ballot and registration. (Anne Sutherland)

Jasmine Wallace helps — The lines formed to the right as each student waited to cast their ballot for their favorite candidate. Each voter was stamped to keep the election clear. (Anne Sutherland)

The count — The Government class counted several times before coming to a conclusion. (Anne Sutherland)

D-Man — As the results came in, the numbers were tabulated and written on the board. (Anne Sutherland)

Keep counting — The numbers were not adding up and the recount began. This called to mind the election in 2000 when Florida was not clear. However, the results and a lesson came ringing through. (Anne Sutherland)