Bates students vote overwhelmingly for Obama during mock election

Photos by Mary Dolan / The Item Student poll workers pour over registration lists and check students off after they cast their votes during the Bates Middle School mock election Tuesday.

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By MARY DOLAN
Item Staff Writer

A crowd of voters gathered anxiously, a chosen candidate already in mind. Poll workers directed traffic, checking names off lists to ensure registration and instructing voters where to go and how to cast their votes.

Though it looked almost like the real deal, the voters were a little too young for their votes to actually count. Like other schools locally, Bates Middle School decided a mock election was the best way to educate students about the electoral process, and the Tuesday before Election Day, students lined up at the polls.

The media center was transformed into the students’ polling precinct, and 14 computers were set up for students to electronically register their votes. Students voted via school district software called eChalk, and for those who had any difficulties voting electronically, paper ballots were available.

Teacher Gary Bettinger organized the mock election, along with the help of media specialist Anita Vaughn and Suzanne McCarthy. Bettinger used student council members to man the polls, and throughout the day, classes took turns making their way to the media center for students to vote for the candidate they’d like to see named president.

The school also placed a referendum on the ballot, asking students whether or not they favored the idea of school uniforms.

Principal Vanessa Lancaster said the idea is to get students familiarized with the election, the voting process and involve them — via the referendum — with the decision-making process at the school.

“The kids are very serious about it,” she said.

Bettinger’s group of poll workers was enthusiastic and carried out their duties to a T. As groups entered the media center, the poll workers delivered their spiel, providing directions to each group of new voters. Bettinger tried to remain to the side and let the students do all the work, noting it’s important for them to be the ones who are involved.

By the end of the day, 687 students had cast their votes, and in this election at least, Sen. Barack Obama won big over Sen. John McCain, taking about 70 percent of the votes. And, likely coming as no surprise, about 80 percent of students voiced their dissatisfaction with the idea of school uniforms.

Eighth-grader Josh Joslin, 14, said he was glad to have participated as a poll worker, noting “we learned how the democratic process is done.”


Contact Staff Writer Mary Dolan at mdolan@theitem.com or (803) 774-1294.