BY SYDNEY HOOVER
Eudora High School students walked the halls with “I Voted” stickers plastered on their shirts Tuesday after casting their votes from the comfort of their classrooms.
These students, most of whom are too young to register to vote, had the opportunity to make their voice heard in their own mock election put together by Eudora junior Shai Nettles.
“I wanted my peers to see how important voting is, and if they can do it now then maybe they will be more encouraged to do it when they can vote [in the real election],” Nettles said.
Nettles organized the mock election for her honors U.S. history class. Students had the chance to cast their ballot throughout the school day, and the poll closed at 3:30. Over 400 students cast their vote in the mock election, with a turnout rate of around 80% — 20% more than the national average in the 2016 presidential election.
President Donald Trump won the EHS election by 45 votes, with 53% of the total EHS vote. Joe Biden received 42% of the vote, and other candidates received 5%.
In addition to the presidential election, the poll featured all other races on the 2020 general election ballot in Eudora. U.S. history teacher Jason Tharp said he hoped it showed students the importance of being informed on state and local elections in addition to federal level races.
“It pushes the importance of voting above party politics and everything else, the importance of going and voting,” Tharp said. “They need to realize that if I want to be an informed voter, I need to keep up with more than just the national news. I need to keep up with what's going on with the local community, because that's going to have a bigger impact on me in the long run.”
Nettles, 16, said it can be disappointing to be only a couple of years or months too young to vote, and the mock election gave her peers a way to feel involved in the process. For those who are over 18, she said it gave them a chance to see what their ballot looks like before casting their vote if they had not already done so.
She said she hopes the mock election gives students an understanding of how elections work, as well as what will be on their ballot when they are old enough to register. She wants her peers to see the importance of their vote, especially in state and local races with a smaller electorate.
“I couldn't stress that enough to them, that every vote really does matter,” she said.
Reach reporter Sydney Hoover at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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