MANCHESTER – During West High’s lunch periods on Tuesday, a steady flow of students made their way toward voting booths set up by the City Clerk. Some may have been drawn in by the spectacle of the red and blue cloth voting booths and promise of a free Tootsie Roll, but most approached with a plan in mind: To cast a ballot in the school’s mock election.
West and Memorial High Schools each took part in the PBS-sponsored mock election this week, with West voting on Tuesday and Memorial casting ballots on Thursday. With most high school students still too young to vote on Nov. 5, the mock elections offered an opportunity for students to get a taste of the voting process, from getting a ballot to the “I Voted” sticker afterward. West senior Renyu Chen said he felt the simulated voting is important in encouraging students to vote for real once they’re able.
“They will be more likely to vote in the future, because they’re more familiar with the actual voting process,” said Chen, who organized the mock election as part of the school’s social studies club.
As balloting was underway Thursday at Memorial High School, freshman Tucker Lessieur helped oversee the voting process. Lessieur said that while the mock election replicates the actual voting process pretty well, he wasn’t sure whether the experience would encourage students to cast actual votes when eligible.
“It really depends,” Lessieur said. “It’s definitely something that could inspire them, but it also depends on what’s really important to them at the time due to issues in the world.
Back at West, Chen said that young people are the future of this country, which makes it all the more important that they become active voters.
“Civil participation is important for democracy, and people need to vote so that the country can actually run,” he added. As balloting drew to a close, Chen said he was happy to see turnout had surpassed his original estimates.
Superintendent Jennifer Chmiel said she was impressed by the schools' efforts to engage students ahead of a critical election.
"This was a clear indicator that our students and staff are civically engaged and thinking about their impact in our community," Chmiel said. "I was so impressed with the level of dialogue and investment in the mock elections."
West social studies teacher Bradford Morse spent the lunch periods playing the role of ballot inspector, checking off student names and providing ballots and voting instructions. He said that while the mock election is coordinated by PBS, the voting booths came after a conversation with the City Clerk’s office.
“The City Clerk helped us with a voter registration drive, and as I was having a conversation with the clerk, they offered to bring some actual voting booths,” Morse said. “The guys were here this morning to come and set them up. They said these are their new booths, and they’re going to come back this afternoon to bring them over to Memorial. It cracked me up because I said ‘you guys aren’t busy enough this time of year,’ but they were great.”
Memorial’s election setup was a bit different than West’s, with a sophisticated voting operation set up in the auditorium. Social studies teacher Andrea DeWitt enlisted her honors civics students, including Lessieur, to run the election just like a real polling place, with a couple of high school modifications: music playing in the background and balloon arch for snapping pictures after voting.
“I remember my first time walking into a voting area, and I had no idea what to do,” DeWitt said. “I was shocked at how easy it was and how fast it was, and I just want the kids to see that it’s not hard to vote.”
DeWitt was hoping for a large voter turnout, assisted by teachers bringing their entire classes down to vote during the first few periods of the day. She said civics classes have been trying to prepare students to understand the election process and make an informed decision when they get into the voting booth.
“We normally do the political party unit at the end, but we switched it to now,” she said. “They watched the debates and they have prepped, so they were educated. I can’t say that everyone at the school was very educated on the election, but that’s pretty real in America.”
Another one of DeWitt’s students, Rossni Gurung, was assigned to oversee a team of ballot counters. Her role is to enter vote counts on a docket for the final tally. At both schools, students were voting in three races: president, governor and Congressional District 1.
“I think it’s a good experience for students because it shows how the community fits in with the voting system,” she said, “and it’s a good experience to see who our school votes for.”
At West, Morse said voter turnout was around 45 percent. Final results were:
President of the United States
Harris – 48%
Trump – 34%
Stein – 5%
Oliver – 4%
Governor of New Hampshire
Craig – 49%
Ayotte – 30%
Villee – 12%
US House of Representatives - NH (District 1)
Pappas – 70%
Prescott – 20%
Other – 10%
At Memorial, DeWitt said a total of 906 students cast a ballot. Final results were:
President of the United States
Donald Trump – 46.5%
Kamala Harris – 46.4%
Chase Oliver – 2.9%
Jill Stein – 2.3%
Governor of New Hampshire
Joyce Craig – 47%
Kelly Ayotte – 33%
Stephen Villee – 10%
US House of Representatives – NH (District 1)
Chris Pappas – 70%
Russell Prescott – 20%