EDMONDS — Lucy Tibbits and Brianna Davis cast their ballots on Snohomish County voting machines Monday, then stood outside the poll, debating.
“I voted for McCain,” Tibbits said, wearing an “I voted” sticker. “He has a rational plan and he has a proposal for the inevitable. Watching the debates, usually Obama isn’t really prepared.”
Davis interrupted to defend her candidate, Barack Obama.
“He is so going to make a better president than McCain,” she said.
Sensing where the conversation was headed, Tibbits said, “It’s not that I don’t think a black president would be cool…”
Davis jumped in, “Yeah, we need change.”
Tibbits continued, “I’m voting more for the policies.”
She used the word “voting” loosely.
Tibbits and Davis are 14-year-old freshmen at Edmonds-Woodway High School. It will be four years until they can legally vote, but like thousands of students in Snohomish County, they voted on voting machines in a mock election.
The Snohomish County Auditor’s Office sent outdated voting machines from the mid-1990s to 18 middle and high schools in towns including Darrington, Arlington, Marysville, Mountlake Terrace and Lake Stevens. Students in most schools were voting in mock elections Monday or today. The auditor’s office will tally the results and release them later this week so students can compare their schools’ votes with state and national results, county election manager Garth Fell said.
“It’s an opportunity to try to engage middle and high school students in the process and give them a taste of what it means to vote and, hopefully, create a hook so when they’re 18 they’ll want to go out and register and participate as an adult,” Fell said.
At Edmonds-Woodway High School, hundreds of students are expected to watch election results live tonight at a party in the social studies area at the school. Eight TVs will be set to different channels, including CNN, Fox News and Comedy Central, social studies teacher Daun Brown said.
“The kids will remember it for the rest of their life and we all will because we haven’t had this much excitement since 1960 and John F. Kennedy’s election,” said Brown, who won’t say who he’s voting for.
Huge student-made banners promoting dozens of candidates for various races hang in the social studies area.
“Don’t be a hater. Vote 4 Nader,” one poster proclaims. Another asks, “Like Ghandi? You’ll love Obama.” Still another: “Be a maverick. Vote McCain.”
Cascade High School in Everett is hosting a mock presidential election of its own today.
“A lot of students have taken particular interest in the election this year,” said Alexi Stavang, Cascade’s student body vice president, who is helping organize the mock election. “People get really passionate about it, but I think there is a lot of openness to peoples’ ideas.”
Stavang, 17, said she will miss getting to cast a real vote because she won’t turn 18 for another five months. That’s why she’s excited about the mock election.
“Most of the people at Cascade can’t vote, but I know they really want a chance to be involved,” she said.
At Oak Harbor High School, students in Jim Crouch’s American government class will team up with student broadcasters to present coverage of the election tonight.
Comcast Channel 21, also known as Wildcat TV, reaches more than 11,500 Whidbey Island homes. Students there figure they can offer something the big networks won’t: live coverage of Island County and other local elections.
“This’ll be a learning experience for everyone,” Crouch said. “Everyone is stepping above their comfort levels and giving this a shot.”
All 33 of Crouch’s American government students will participate. They will provide on-camera taped reports about candidates and initiatives on the ballot, followed by live discussions providing a student perspective to the elections. Then, like the major networks, students will provide live updates showing election results, starting with national numbers from the East Coast and moving through to the Western states, finishing up with Washington statewide voting and Whidbey Island results.
“I find kids learn best when they are involved and democracies work best when there is participation,” Crouch said. “With this, we get both. They really get engaged. There are two things a teacher wants. They want their students to understand the material and to remember it. They are understanding and will remember this.”
Reporter Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292 or kmanry@heraldnet.com.
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