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The Piedmont Highlander

Mock election echoes national election

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President Barack Obama emerged as the victor in the annual mock election held for the entire school on Oct 30, echoing the rest of the country’s sentiments.

All propositions on the ballot were passed with the exception of Proposition 32 and 40.

The propositions ranged from topics of taxes in Propositions 30, 38, and 39, law enforcement in Propositions 35 and 36, and the death penalty, state budget, labor, insurance, regulations, and redistricting in Propositions 34, 31, 32, 33, 37, and 40.

Out of the 285 total votes cast, the two main candidates received the largest majorities of votes, with Obama, receiving 207 votes, 72.6%, and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney garnering 35 votes, 12.3% of the total vote. Libertarian Gary Johnson came after, with 18 votes, American Independent Thomas Hoefling, 8, Peace and Freedom candidate Roseanne Barr, 7, and Jill Stein of the Green Party with a total of 5 votes.

Many students wanted their voice to be heard, viewing the election as a format to do so, and each had different reasons for their choices.

“I mainly read into each person’s policies and [made] my choices that way, [as well] as trying to look at what helped in the past,” senior Nick Smith said, who ended up casting his vote in the mock election for Obama, just as he did in the national election.

Junior Peter Lally, on the other hand, formulated his decision on how to vote for Romney and the different propositions through his own research, finding what he believes to be evidence that tax cuts are good for the economy. This evidence, he said, only helped solidify his foundational views.

“I will vote for Romney because of his ability to balance deficits, and his success in the private sector. I will also vote for him because in the past 4 years, our economy has gotten no better and we’re now on the brink of a double-dip recession,” Lally said.

Junior Julia Sweeney, who volunteered at Obama’s Oakland office, said she was greatly affected by volunteering and that experience helped her come to her decisions on who and what to vote for.

“The people I met there made me more sure of my decision. They came from all sides of life – old, young, black, white, women, men, Latinos, Asians,” Sweeney said.

People were less confident in their choices over the propositions, saying that they are topics that have not been broadcast nearly as much as the candidates. Still, some had strong views on certain propositions, such as the death penalty and eliminating corporation and union donations to candidates.

Smith, who has strong beliefs on the death penalty, says that he voted No on Proposition 34 because he sees the prisons as being too full, among other reasons.

“[I would vote] Yes on 32 because corporations and unions should not be allowed to take money from their employees and give to political campaigns [which] the employees may not support,” Lally said.

Sweeney said she was generally undecided when it came to the various propositions on the ballot, and instead had stronger feelings towards what she felt could become federal issues, such as gay marriage and birth control issues.

Regardless of their personal views on the candidates and issues, both Smith and Lally agreed that the mock elections are important, especially to the upperclassmen, because these are the issues that will be affecting their lives.

“People should definitely think about what is going on in their government, especially before they have the ability to vote,” Smith said.

“Even for those of us who can’t actually vote this year, it’s so important to practice being an active citizen in the world,” Sweeney said. “Democracy is a pretty amazing gift when you think about it, so why would we ever sit back and let people make decisions for us when we can create change with our vote.”

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