Social studies classes are preparing for the upcoming student mock elections. Teachers have been preparing the steps for a mock election, such as Matthew Bergquist, AP Government & Economics teacher. This is a practice election where students are able to cast a vote for a public office position without the vote going towards the final count of the actual election. The department is aiming to give an example to all students of what voting is like in real life.
Classes will be spending some time going over how the U.S. election process works. Each class will also spend time going through different information regarding how to register to vote, and other important information.
“Every grade level is spending at least a day introducing the ballot, and talking about the different kind of the offices,” Bergquist said.
Some students will have the chance to participate in the actual election this year, as the legal voting age is 18 in the United States. This gives the students who will be voting a chance to practice the election process before the big day. ensuring that those who have never seen a ballot before understand what to do, such as how to fill out different spaces on the ballot.
“I’m over a month away from being able to vote, but otherwise, I mean, I know some of my friends will be able to vote,” senior Gibson Strub explained.
This election does not just matter for the seniors though, the rest of the current student body will be eligible to vote in 2028 for U.S. president. This has caught the eyes of students from different grades, as they get the chance to learn about elections, some for the first time since a very brief unit in middle school U.S. History.
“You get to actually vote, even though it’s not legitimate, you’re still learning about the candidates and elections,” junior Paul Grant said.
This is not the first time a mock election has occurred. There are records that the social studies department keeps that show which different grades has voted for which candidates, which the AP Government & Economics classes study as part of their curriculum.
“The most recent one was in 2022 with a midterm, we’ve done them every 2 years, even prior to the pandemic, we did one in 2016, and even years previous to that,” Bergquist added.
Students will have the chance to participate in a mock election, which will be occuring within the next few weeks and the social studies department will be preparing students before then for this opportunity that not all get.
