Wichita students vote in a mock election for president

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Wichita Public Schools found a way for children to participate on Election Day. On Tuesday, kindergarten through 12th grade students cast ballots in a mock presidential election.

Teachers helped the students research the candidates and walked them through the voting steps. The schools also provided pictures for students who were not old enough to read a ballot.

Rob Maddux, the secondary social studies curriculum director, said the district hopes this creates life-long habits.

"A big part of our social studies education is civic engagement, and we just want to teach them how important it is to vote and that it's not difficult to vote," he said. "We want them to have this feeling. This is like practice so that when they become adults, this is something that they do all the time."

Wichita Public Schools also works with its 18-year-old students to help get them registered to vote.

The mock election results will be tallied and posted for students to see.