Leigh Charlton, News Editor
@leighcourant
Amid the frenzy of the upcoming presidential race, NCHS held its own mock election. On Monday, October 31, each student had the opportunity to partake in a nationwide election simulation. The school was chosen to participate from among other schools in Connecticut by the VOTES program with the hope that is will spark interest in the election and encourage students to be more involved in the democratic process.
The VOTES program was founded in 1988 by two teachers at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts. In the 28 years since its founding, the project has expanded to include over 130 schools like NCHS and 50,000 teen voters across the country. “We were approached at the beginning of the school year and asked if we would be interested in being one of the three schools to participate in Connecticut,” social studies teacher Kristine Goldhawk said. “We are the only public school in CT. The teachers discussed it in a department meeting and decided it would be fun.”
The voting process was simple. “We had two polling locations,” Ms. Goldhawk said. “We were in the lobby near the security desk and down in the cafeteria. All a student had to do was come up and present their photo ID. We ticked them off of our list of students, and they would be able to proceed. We had the iPads set up with an anonymous google form where they would select one of the four candidates.”
Voters had to choose between four presidential candidates: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Jill Stein and Gary Johnson. “There was no write-in candidate because we don’t want Harambe to win,” Ms. Goldhawk said.
One of the goals of the mock election was to encourage students to be involved in the election and to be aware of the candidates and their respective policies. “Unfortunately, because of voting laws, many of our students who have been following the election can’t actually vote,” social studies teacher Michael Joshi said. “This was a way for them to get to participate in the democratic process. The whole process is supposed to mirror what you would actually do if you were to vote. You would educate yourself on the candidates to choose which candidate you wanted to vote for.”
Students in civics and government classes have been following the presidential campaign all year in anticipation of the mock election. “Before focusing on the election in class I was already following it very closely, ” senior civics student Carly Bryant said. “I was watching the debates and constantly reading news on the candidates. Then in class, we prepared for the election by researching the basic biographies of the candidates, their stances on certain issues, and their policies.”
Teachers are optimistic that the combination of class and the mock election has helped students develop their own political opinions and identities. “I hope now the seniors believe in their own political beliefs because of what they have read or heard in civics class, instead of just because of whether they were brought up to be Republican or Democrat,” Ms. Goldhawk said. “Even if they keep the same party alignment, I hope they’re doing it because this it is what they truly believe in after researching the candidates and the issues.”
“My goal is that when my students turn 18, they feel good about participating in the process,” Mr. Joshi said. “I just want them to vote. I don’t care who they vote for. Just vote. Our democracy was created on the foundation that the people are actually choosing to allow the government to do what they do. It’s an important duty and it’s one of our responsibilities as American citizens. ”
