Mr. Jeremy Wynne’s American Government class hosted a mock election on Nov. 5, 2024. Students were able to come anytime during lunch to register and vote. The class had been learning about the process of voting, and Mr. Wynne found this an amazing opportunity to educate his students on the electoral process and other students on the duty of voting.
In order to vote, any student could register by filling out a form that was provided to them, turn the form in, and go into Mrs. Shannon Henley’s classroom to vote. When voting, students sat down at an isolated desk in a precinct to simulate the privacy one has when voting in real life. They had to fill out a form on a Chromebook that was almost identical to the Catoosa County ballot, stating who they wanted to vote for. Mr. Wynne and his class went to great lengths to make sure that voting was as accurate to the real process as possible. He even had a table setup beside the exit of the precinct for students to be asked questions about their candidate of choice, in order to see just how knowledgeable the student body is about the election candidates. Over 350 students voted, and there was never a point where the polls weren’t busy.
Mr. Wynne conducted this mock election in the hopes of taking advantage of an event that only occurs every four years. “I hope that this takes away some of the uneasiness students feel about voting,” Mr. Wynne stated. Though there were a few changes that had to be made on the fly, Mr. Wynne was generally happy with the whole experience of the mock election. He had been trying to educate students about voting, and the process, while also trying to take away some of the intimidation that comes with voting.
Each student had a different voting experience. For junior Catie Beth Hewitt, it was an enjoyable experience. Hewitt’s favorite part was how lifelike the process was. “I like how when you went to vote, it was all the stages, you didn’t just go in and vote,” said Hewitt. Junior Asher Bryson was another voter. He said that he liked, “how they had the exit polls because it made everything a lot more realistic.”
Voting is our civic duty as Americans, and Mr. Wynne and the American Government class put a lot of effort into making the process as lifelike as possible. If you see them in the halls, make sure to tell them what a great job they did. When you are able to vote for real in four years, don’t be afraid because now you have this knowledge under your belt.
