Several hours before the polls closed on Election Day, students at Emerson J. Dillon Middle School had already selected Donald Trump as their choice for President of the United States of America.
The school’s library media center was recently transformed into a voting center, complete with a sign-in desk and voting privacy screens made by art students. At each voting station, students used a tablet to scan a QR code which brought up a Google Docs “ballot” with the names of Trump, Hillary Clinton, Jill Stein and Gary Johnson. Students in grades five through eight cast their digital ballot, with 423 votes for Trump, 100 votes for Clinton, 15 votes for Stein and no votes for Johnson. For their efforts, the students received an “I Voted” sticker.
Although the middle-schoolers are several years younger than the legal voting age of 18, Social Studies Teacher John Dalgety said their participation in the mock election showed their enthusiasm for learning about the electoral process. Teachers also spoke with students about how social media has affected the national election.
EJD Middle School Sixth-Grader Madison Coutchure votes in her
school’s recent mock election.