CHS Students Cast Votes in Mock El=
ection
Are high school students paying attention to the
Presidential race? Do they have an interest in wh=
o
the President of the United
States will be after this election?
Students at Community High School in West Chic=
ago
definitely do, as demonstrated by their civic participation in a mock elect=
ion
at the school. About 600 Community
High School students
chose to vote in a mock election held at the school on Tuesday, October 7th,
and they definitively elected Barack Obama as President, with 72% of the vote compared to =
22%
going for McCain. Obama and McCain were n=
ot the
only candidates the students could choose from, however. Green Party,
Libertarian, and Independent presidential candidates were also included on =
the
ballot, which mirrored the actual ballot seen by voters on November 4t=
h.
Sponsored by the League of Women Voters and supported =
by the
DuPage Election Commission, the mock election g=
ave
students the opportunity to vote for President and Vice President, Illinois
Senator, and 14th District U.S. Representative. The League
sponsors Illinois Student Vote, which gives students from kindergarteners to
seniors in high school the chance to be a part of the election process.&nbs=
p;
Students acted as election judges and student voters used election booths a=
nd a
voting tabulator supplied by the County.
Students studied the candidates’ stance on sever=
al key
issues, such as health care, the war in Iraq, and education, and iden=
tified
which candidate they agreed with on each issue. This exercise was
completed during the advisory class at the school, which allowed each stude=
nt
in the building the opportunity to lean more about the candidates in order =
to
make more informed decisions at the mock election and in real life. As
Election Day approaches on November 4th, Social Studies classes =
will
go into even more detail on the election.
Mock election results for the entire state of Illinois can be =
viewed
on the League of Women Voters website dedicated to the mock election, illin=
oisstudentvote.org