Voting at RBHS started when the program contacted former social studies teacher Bill Priest. Activities director David Bones said the program existed at RBHS before he joined the school 12 years ago.
It’s important for everyone to “take advantage of their right to vote,” Bones said. “I think that as high school students become of age to vote … it’s important for them to have opportunities, in this case, to practice that, or exercise their right to vote. I think it’s a really cool idea.”
Junior Maaz Muhammad voted and thinks it’s a great idea for VOTES to involve students in the election process.
“I think it’s really good for the students, and having them be more involved in politics now,” Muhammad said. It helps them “be more involved in politics and the government.”
Sophomore Clarissa Curry, who also voted, hopes VOTES educates teenagers.
“I think it’s a great idea because it gets the students involved in the election process even though we can’t vote in the actual election,” Curry said. “I hope that it makes people realize they need to be informed about the candidates.”
Voting runs from 2nd to 3rd hour. The tallied votes were originally to be sent today after school, but because of the non-tropical storm Sandy, the deadline is now Friday, Nov. 2. After the votes are tallied, VOTES will display the results on votes2012.org. The website will announce the winner in high schools across the nation, along with the winner in each state.
By Atreyo Ghosh
Are you able to vote in this year’s national election? What do you think of your first experience?
Updated Oct. 31, 11:42
Results of yesterday’s Presidential mock election:
- Constitution Party=1%
- Libertarian Party=2%
- Democratic Party=39%
- Republican Party=55%
- Green Party=3%
