Kamala Harris wins Austin Middle mock presidential election
Nov. 6—Whatever the final results of the national presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris won by a solid margin at Austin Middle School in Decatur.
The school hosted its own mock presidential election Tuesday to teach students about voting as well as the platforms of all presidential candidates listed on the state ballot.
Harris emerged as the winner at the end of the school day, receiving 311 votes (50.5%) to former President Donald Trump's 271 votes (44%). Third-party candidate Chase Oliver received 34 votes (5.5%).
History teacher William McRea, now in his fourth year with Decatur City Schools, organized the school's mock election to support his seventh grade civics class lesson on the electoral process this month.
"All students are voting today, both sixth and seventh grade, and we've also opened it for teachers and employees here as well," McRea said. "We opened the polls this morning when the school bell rang, and we should have all results by the end of the day."
McRea said some students chose not to vote and he reminded them that American citizens are not required to vote in elections, but if citizens want government reform, the only viable way to achieve that is through voting.
"Everything starts along the lines of, 'We the people,'" McRea said. "We the people have the power; we the people have the right to vote. We have the power to change our government, and what I want kids to understand is that if you don't like how something is going in our government, your vote, your power is how you change it. Especially on local levels."
Seventh grade students Macie Chitwood and Maggie Hawkins cast their votes and said they look forward to voting in a real election cycle once they become adults. Both students said the presidential debates between Harris and Trump in September and President Joe Biden and Trump in June did not help either candidate and did not influence their votes on Tuesday.
"I thought it was focused more on bashing each other than it was on the actual political views and I did not enjoy it," Hawkins said.
"I feel like they didn't debate much, they just brought each other down," Chitwood said. "They did talk about changing some things, but they were mostly just arguing."
Hawkins said before this year, she had little interest in politics, but after doing research on issues each candidate stood for and taking civics this year, she said she plans on running for public office herself when she is older. Chitwood agreed and said she also sees herself in the political spotlight some day.
After learning of the Electoral College's impact on the outcome of presidential elections, Hawkins said she wished the decision was reached based on popular votes from each citizen rather than the electoral votes cast by each state.
"The Electoral College, it wants to make sure your voice is heard but not everyone's voice is really heard because people who voted for the other side, they don't get accounted for at all," Hawkins said. "I just feel like every person should have a say."
Chitwood also favors the popular vote because she feels people voting outside the majority party in some states are not well represented and, because of that, "some people don't get as big of a chance to let their voice be heard."
McRea said he has taught his civics class about the 19th Amendment, which granted American women the right to vote over 100 years ago. As future women voters, Hawkins and Chitwood said they take the right to vote personally.
"I think it is so, so important because more than half the population didn't get to vote," Hawkins said. "Not everyone's voice got to be heard, but with women voting, everyone gets a voice. Now we have a woman running for president."
"I feel like people back then thought women weren't as smart as men and they didn't think women could choose to vote," Chitwood said.
Chitwood said she believes young Americans should make voting decisions based on their own research and understanding, rather than following the preferences of their families, friends or partisan state leaders.
McRea said he let students decide who they wanted for their third-party candidate and the students chose Oliver, a Libertarian from Nashville. Oliver is listed as an independent candidate on the Morgan County presidential ballot along with Jill Stein and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., although Kennedy suspended his campaign in August.
"We gave them an assignment where they had to learn the platforms of each candidate," McRea said.
Hawkins said she voted for Oliver because of his views on education and abortion while Chitwood said she has been on the fence between Harris and Trump.
"Today, I did vote Trump just because of what I've heard of his views," Chitwood said. "Kamala said she's going to change a lot of things but I feel like she did have a say with Biden last year and that really didn't happen. I know we've had better prices when Trump was president, and I just don't know if we are ready for a woman president yet."
