Bush wins high school election by a landslide
Liquor-by-the-drink in Marion County is narrowly defeated
By SARA HILL
Staff writer
Voters Monday in the Hillsboro High School mock election overwhelmingly re-elected George W. Bush with 106 votes. Democrat John Kerry received 20 votes and Independent Ralph Nader, six.
James Robb's American government classes held the election in the auditorium lobby. Two hundred and twenty-five high school students and staff registered to vote and 135 or 60 percent voted. Voters could register as a Republican, Democrat, or Independent, with approximately 90 percent registering as Republicans.
Robb's classes were assigned different tasks in running the election. One class was in charge of registering voters; another advertised the election through posters, brochures, TV ads, etc.; and the third made ballots and voting booths and ran the election.
The election site was open from 8 to 8:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and 3:30 to 4 p.m.
"We actually tried to match the real election process as closely as possible," said Robb. "We wanted to simulate an election."
For the past three weeks, students in Robb's classes discussed political parties, moderate and conservative labels, the electoral college, and followed the candidates' campaigns.
"We talked about the constitutional qualifications to be president and the public qualifications," Robb said. "I've been impressed with the way some of the students have recognized and understood the issues of the campaigns and have not just stuck to party lines."
Although Robb predicted the Republicans would win handily, he was pleased that many students realized there are people with political views different from their own.
"One thing that surprised me is that students would say things about the other candidate and party that they liked," said Robb. "That shows me they are at least thinking about the issues."
According to Robb, there was a high level of interest in the election process at the high school.
"We had 35 people vote between 8 and 8:30 this morning," he said. "We even turned away a voter who had not registered."
The Republicans swept the national and state elections with incumbents Sen. Samuel D. Brownback, Rep. Jerry Moran, Sen. Jim Barnett and Rep. Donald Dahl all winning easily.
Liquor-by-the-drink lost by a narrow margin, 69-65.
According to some senior students, the mock election was educational. Several claimed they voted on name recognition but not political lines.
