Students will line the breezeway Oct. 30 to vote in a Mock Election organized by Social Studies teachers Dave Keller and Gabrielle Kashani.
The ballot is similar to the one that will be given to millions of Californians on Nov. 6, Election Day. The mock ballot includes presidential nominees as well as Propositions 30 through 40, which cover issues such as tax increases, food labeling laws, the death penalty and human trafficking.
The biannual Mock Election will allow students, many of whom are under 18, to involve themselves in politics, Keller said.
“Most people know what is going on in the media, they know the election is going on, and that this is a big election, so it gives people a chance to participate in something that the nation is doing,” Keller said.
The event is organized entirely by faculty. Keller and Kashani still need to decide how to best encourage students to submit their ballots on Election Day.
“We’ve run it two different ways,” Keller said. “We either do it in classes, so everybody in their History class will just do it, or we set it up in the breezeway where there are real voter booths. That’s more fun, but we don’t get as good a turnout that way.”
Historically, the Mock Election’s numbers suggest that students lean toward liberal candidates and causes. This may due to Piedmont’s climate, senior Julian Frost said.
“I think that three-quarters, maybe more, of the parents in Piedmont are registered Democrats, or identify with the liberal side, and it’s much more socially acceptable in Piedmont to be a Barack Obama supporter,” he said. “So I think he’s going to win by a long shot.”
Younger voters, especially college students, tend to vote Democrat. This often applies to high school students who take part in Mock Elections.
In 2008, 65 percent of Berkeley High students who voted in their Mock Election submitted for Democrat Barack Obama. Only 15 students, or 1.18 percent of the voters, cast ballots for Republican John McCain.
The mock election has run every two years for as long as Keller can remember.