Mount Si chooses Obama, Rossi in mock election
November 7, 2008
By Laura Geggel
The majority of the United Classrooms of Mount Si High School favor both Democrats and Republicans.
About 60 percent of Mount Si High School’s population voted for Barack Obama during a nationwide high-school mock election Oct. 31. John McCain scored second with 35 percent of the popular vote, Ralph Nader placed third with 3 percent and the remainder of students and staff — two percent — voted for other parties.
Mount Si High School teacher Lisa Truemper organizes shoeboxes containing student ballots, as senior Leah Wiley turns in the votes for the class she supervised.
But while the democratic candidate soared in the presidential mock election, Republican candidate Dino Rossi beat Chris Gregoire in the Washington state governor’s race 55 percent to 45 percent.
This is the first time Mount Si students have participated in a national mock election. Student officials from the contemporary issues and criminal justice classes monitored the voting process and explained to their classmates they were there to “ensure the accuracy and reliability of the vote.”
Senior Leah Wiley, a student in Lisa Truemper’s current events class, directed the voting process in the gymnasium. She called students up one at a time, while senior Logan Sutton handed out ballots.
The voting process mimicked professional polling places; students penned their names on a sign-in sheet and then voted on anonymous ballots for the presidential and gubernatorial races. Students voted one at a time, “so their friends couldn’t tell them who to vote for,” Wiley said.
Physical education teacher Dirk Hansen said he didn’t mind shortened class periods for the mock election.
“I think it’s a great way to convey the importance of voting and the power they have,” Hansen said. “I’ve already noticed kids talking this morning about who they’re going to vote for.”
Freshman Tasha Hartwig said she was looking forward not only to voting but also to learning which candidate would get the most votes from her peers.
“I think it’s interesting we get to see who favors who,” Hartwig said.
Although most high-school students have not yet reached the legal voting age of 18, many of them are closely following the election.
“I think the nation is very divided about the election,” junior Colby Jones said.
He said the mock election was good practice because “pretty much all of the students will be voting soon.”
Even apathetic voters participated.
“I don’t really like politics,” sophomore Chris Appleseth said. Still, he filled out his ballot.
At a school board meeting Oct. 9, Kim Sales and Lisa Truemper said the mock election tied in with 2006 Washington state house bill 3145 designed to “help graduate students who are better voters, better citizens, and who are ready to take an informed and responsible place in society.”
Both teachers said they wanted to emphasize the voting process, not partisan affiliation.
“This is the love of social studies,” Truemper said. “I don’t care what your opinion is, as long as you can support it.”
Students finished with the voting process read a worksheet detailing the history of how Americans elect their president. Depending on the population of each second period class, Sales and Truemper assigned classrooms throughout the school with electoral votes. The most crowded rooms — Bonnie Foote’s gym class and Adam Rupert’s sound engineering class — had nine electoral votes apiece.
According to Truemper and Sales’ calculations, Obama received 307 electoral votes and McCain had 43. But only the presidential race depended on the Mount Si electoral system. The popular vote determined the gubernatorial race.
“It was an awesome opportunity for the kids to see an electoral process occur,” Principal Randy Taylor said. “The mock election was a good simulation of the voting process and learning that the vote is more than just the popular vote. It’s about the electoral process.”
Sales and Truemper said they hoped the mock election would promote youth involvement in politics. Jenni Anderson, a 2008 Mount Si graduate, participated as a delegate for Obama at the Washington state democratic caucus.
“It’s important to have a say, even if your vote doesn’t technically count,” Anderson said of the mock election. “It’s good to know about the issues and understand the process for when you can vote.”
Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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