Just as thousands of Tennessee residents across the state have already done, students at Happy Valley Middle School headed to the polls on Monday to cast their vote for president.
Happy Valley Middle participated in a mock presidential election held at schools all across the state, said Jordan Fenner, who teaches 8th grade social studies at the school. Students in grades 5 through 8 at the school took part in the event.
“It’s through the Secretary of State’s Office,” Fenner said.
The mock election program through the Secretary of State Tre Hargett’s Office was open to any public or private school or homeschool association in the state and available for students in all grades. Once the school’s mock election is complete they forward the results on to the Secretary of State’s Office for a final tabulation and results announcement. The Secretary of State’s office began receiving results on Oct. 17 for “early voting.” The final day for schools to report results is today. After all the results are in Hargett said his office will announce statewide results.
Schools were allowed conduct their mock election whichever way worked best for their students. Students at Happy Valley Middle used paper ballots that contained the names of all the candidates appearing on the official election ballot. The students only voted in the Presidential race and not any of the local, state or federal congressional races.
The polling place at Happy Valley Middle School was in the library, which had five voting stations set up so the students could mark their ballots in private. Once the students marked their ballot and turned them in to their “election official” and received a sticker proclaiming “I voted.” The Secretary of State’s Office provided the stickers to participating schools.
Leading up to the election, Fenner said he has been talking with his students about the election process and how it works.
“On Friday, my 8th graders did a little research on the candidates so they could be ready to vote,” Fenner said. That same day, Fenner spoke with students in 5th and 6th grades about the Electoral College and how that process works.
The students at the school have been very receptive to the event, Fenner said.
“They’ve been pretty excited about it,” Fenner said. “You have some apathy, but a lot have really gotten into it. I have one who is upset that his vote won’t count for real.”
At the school on Monday, some of the “voters” could be seen sporting t-shirts and pins for their favorite candidate. “I’ve got one boy who every day since school started, possibly back before we got out of school last year, every day he has worn a Donald Trump pin,” Fenner said.
The event has multiple purposes — it gives teachers a chance to do lessons on civics and the election process but it also serves to help the students understand the importance of voting.
“It’s a big step this early on, but about one-third of my eighth graders will be old enough to vote in the next presidential election,” Fenner said. “It’s just trying to get kids to believe it matters and their vote counts.”
Voting continued throughout the day on Monday and Fenner said results would be turned into the state on Tuesday.s