Homeroom by homeroom, students from Dallas Middle School were called to the polls, set up in a hallway, to cast their votes Friday, for either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, in a mock presidential election.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Teachers and staff, meanwhile, go for Harris
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While Jeffrey Dickerson, seated in front of a cubicle, hands out paper ballots to his fellow students, the secrecy of Friday’s mock election at Dallas Middle School was maintained as students entered cubicles to mark their ballots.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Poll workers Jacie Rollins, left, and Mollie Coyne, crossed off the names of their schoolmates as, one by one, the students arrived to cast their ballots in the mock election at Dallas Middle School.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Mia Belles and Skylar Haydu work the polls during the mock election held at Dallas Middle School on Friday.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Homeroom by homeroom, close to 500 students at Dallas Middle School went to the “polls” on Friday, and cast ballots in a mock presidential election.
The results, as supplied to the Times Leader by teacher Harry Haas at the end of the school day, were that 489 students voted, with 327 voting for the Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump, and 162 voting for the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Each student voter first approached a poll worker, who asked for their name and homeroom, in similar fashion to the way poll workers in the actual election on Tuesday will ask in-person voters for name and address.
Other poll workers handed each student a paper ballot with the names of the candidates printed by boxes they could check — and students entered cubicles to mark the ballots privately before depositing them in boxes.
Despite the secrecy of the ballot, some students were willing to tell a reporter how they had voted.
Thirteen-year-old Michael Viglone said he voted for Trump, giving border security and the economy as his reasons.
Fourteen-year-old Luke Waskevich said he voted for Harris, making his choice sound like a vote against Trump, whom he described as “not having great experience in a lot of areas” and being “also old.”
Thirteen-year-old Jacie Bellis said she favored Harris “because of women’s rights.”
“Same thing for me, too,” sixth grader Mollie Coyne said.
Describing the mock election as “a fun day,” teacher Haas said it was educational for students, who learned how the electoral college works and watched as a map of the United States was updated on a smartboard with the colors red and blue.
“They’ve been really excited,” Christine Forte said of the special needs students with whom she works.
Principal Sean McLaughlin said he had stressed to the students that it was important “to respect other people’s opinions, and to respect the process” of the mock election.
The school’s adult employees also voted, Haas said later, and their results were different from the student body.
“Teachers and staff went in a different direction,” Haas wrote in an email. “Kamala Harris edged out Donald Trump, 22 to 21 votes.”