Forest North 2012 Mock Presidential Election

Let freedom ring! The Forest North Library & TAG programs were pleased to bring a mock presidential election to Forest North on 11/6/12, Election Day. While citizens around the country lined up to vote (even on campus) we had our own voting lines here at school!

Students Kindergarten through 5th grade registered to vote in previous weeks. They were told that they must register ahead of time by the deadline to be eligible to vote in the election, just like grownups do.

They each brought their voter registration card to our voting precinct, and were checked against a master list of students to determine their identity and to prevent voter fraud.

After this, they were led into the voting booth area, and chose their votes privately. On the ballots, students voted for their presidential candidate, and teachers were also asked beforehand if they'd like to answer any other questions. We asked questions about students' favorite Special Areas classes (PE beat Library by one vote- I demanded a run off but was denied, sadly. Next time I'll have to campaign more), whether students would be interested in learning another language like Spanish (yes, our voters said!) and to assess questions like whether students participated in running club before school, or if they prefer recess after lunch.

Students submitted their votes into our ballot box. After voting, I asked second grader La'darius at the ballot box how he felt now that he was a real voter. "Better," he replied with a smile. After voting, each student received a "I voted!" sticker.

At the end of the day, Mrs. Stewart's TAG students finished their long day as pollworkers by counting and recounting the votes. We triple checked our scores, and the votes are in.

Check out this graph made by Jack in 5th grade for the results. In a landslide victory, Forest North students re-elected President Obama for 4 more years.

A special thanks to our pollworkers, Mrs. Stewart's students. They were excellent citizens, great role models, and very helpful to all of our students.