Bush wins hands down in hands-on lesson

Students at Truman Elementary School in Nevada went through the voting process step by step, from registration to casting private ballots in the classroom on Tuesday. Results of the election were similar to the outcome of the actual election, but margins were far different.

By Ben Holman

Nevada Daily Mail

Standing in line, patiently waiting with registration cards in hand, voters took to the polls Tuesday morning to cast their ballot for their candidate of choice. A casual observer wouldn't see anything unusual about the election that took place at Truman Elementary School in Nevada on Tuesday, except, perhaps, the height of those voting.

Fourth graders at Truman were able to cast their ballot for president. The mock election that was held was the culmination of a unit on the democratic process in America. Everything that was done on Tuesday was created to reflect the actual process of voting.

The kids are pretty excited about it," said Patty Hallam, Truman principal. "They've done a lot of preparatory discussion."

According to Sherry Regers and Traci Cliffman, fourth grade teachers, the kids had to register beforehand, keep track of their registration card, sign in at the polls and then deposit their ballot into the ballot box. While the tickets that the kids used to vote only had the two main presidential candidates printed on them, the kids were able to get a feeling for what it is like to vote.

"Government is a big thing we talk about in fourth grade," said Cliffman. "(holding a mock election) is a good way to introduce them to the responsibilites of the people who run our country and our state."

She said that the kids have had discussions about the candidates and major campaign issues and both teachers said that they were surprised at how well informed the kids already were.

"It's really neat to be in the classroom and see the kids polling the same issues that adults are polling," said Regers. She said that the students identified the military, education and health care as the three most important issues.

According to the two teachers, the kids have also addressed issues such as political parties, the electoral college and the budget -- the kids even had the opportunity to go on-line and work out a national budget of their own so that they could gain a better understanding of what it takes to create a balanced budget.

Truman wasn't the only school that held a mock election.

St. Mary's School did so as well, also inviting parents and other people to vote in a simulated election. Kindergarteners through fifth-graders voted throughout the day at a simulated poll in the hallway of the school. On the St. Mary's ballot were candidates for president, governor, senator, representative and sheriff.

Students at St. Mary's also were required to have their voter registration cards and sign in to vote.

Thanks to a donation from Vernon County Clerk Tammi Beach, kids at both schools all received the same "I voted" sticker that their parents receive at the real polls.

At Truman, Bush was the choice of the voters and beat Kerry by a margin of 109 to 43.

The numbers for Truman during the last election (2000) were very similar, with voters choosing Bush by a margin of nearly 2-to-1.

At St Mary's the students also chose Bush, who received 21 votes to Kerry's 8.

There was 1 write-in vote for Nader -- in 2000, the St. Mary's voters recorded a very similar election to this one, with overwhelming support for Bush.

In that election, two kids, hoping for a better choice, wrote in George Washington for president.

Kit Bond won the U.S. Senate race, Mat Blunt won the gubernatorial race, and Fisher won the race for State Representative. Ron Peckman also won the sheriff's seat, 20-10 over Larry DeLaney.

With Kerry conceding the presidential race this morning, it would seen that the students were right on the money with their choices when compared to their parents.