Southgate Elementary students attended an assembly Thursday, Oct. 30 to learn about the U.S. presidential candidates and the 2008 election.

October 31, 2008 - Sen. Barack Obama would be the nation's next president if it were up to students at Shaker High and Southgate Elementary, but Loudonville Elementary students narrowly gave the nod to Sen. John McCain.

The 2008 U.S. presidential election is one of the most anticipated elections in decades, providing a perfect opportunity for students to learn about democracy, civic participation and how the two candidates would fare if the election were up to the Shaker community.

Shaker High, Southgate and Loudonville all held mock elections this week. Southgate Elementary held an assembly Thursday morning during which six students gave speeches in support of their candidates of choice. Shaker High students voted during social studies classes on Thursday, while Loudonville held its mock election Wednesday.

Obama sailed to victory at Shaker High and Southgate, garnering more than twice as many votes as McCain at each school. At Shaker, Obama received 63 percent of the vote, defeating McCain 973-373, while Ralph Nader received 138 votes, or 8 percent. At Southgate, Obama received 69 percent of the vote and defeated McCain 302-135. Loudonville was a different story, however, and McCain eked out a victory with 50.9 percent of the vote, or 107-103.

High school students have been preparing for their mock election for weeks now. Features of Shaker's mock election included:

• Electronic ballots – the social studies department worked in conjunction with the IT department to create electronic ballots that allowed students to vote on computers at the beginning of each social studies class. The electronic ballots will allow Participation in Government students to compare the voting patterns of demographic groups within the school. For example, the class will be able to determine how each class voted, how faculty voted compared to students or how girls voted compared to boys.

• Absentee ballots – because of the high school’s rotating class schedule, a few students didn’t have social studies on Thursday, so the Participation in Government students created paper ballots. Students who didn't have social studies class on Thursday cast their ballots Wednesday, Oct. 29.

• All students, faculty and staff were eligible to vote.

Although the percentage of eligible teenage voters who actually cast ballots is generally lower than other age groups, students are following the election very closely this year, said Robert Pollaro, supervisor of the Social Studies Department. Turnout for the high school’s mock election doubled that of 2004, but that wasn’t surprising because students voted during class, he said. However, Pollaro related an anecdote that he believes supports the idea that students are paying more attention:

As Pollaro walked out of his office Thursday afternoon, two students walked past him and he overheard them talking about how they had voted. The students had voted for different candidates and as they walked down the hallway they continued arguing about which candidate was the better choice.

“It was just a perfect illustration of how important this election is to everyone, including students,” Pollaro said.