The mock election compared to the real election
Written by Burgess, Former Student on Monday, November 12, 2012
Snohomish High School’s government classes held a mock election that ended on November 6, 2012. Each student had a ballot with their name on it and was urged to turn it in to a drop-in box located in the cafeteria.
There were 570 ballots collected, meaning that only 34% of the school’s population got involved. This was an opportunity for students who were too young to participate in the real election to be heard.
Over fifty people and issues were represented by students of the senior class, with posters and flyers spread across the campus supporting various initiatives and candidates.
There were many similarities between the mock election and the results of the Washington State election.
In Washington State, President Obama won 55.8% of the popular vote with 1,567,463 votes and Governor Romney got 41.8% of the popular vote with 1,173,652 votes.
In the SHS mock election, President Barack Obama received 224 votes (40.5%) to Governor Mitt Romney’s 193 (34.0%), portraying the close race between the two nominees that was evident in the real election.
It was apparent that the students of SHS were more willing to vote for third party candidates, as Ross “Rocky” Anderson received 44 votes (8%) compared to his 4,089 votes (0.1%) collected in Washington State.
Some of the other winners of both the real and mock election are as follows:
Yes on 74 Same-Sex Marriage 303 1,475,374
No on 74 Same-Sex Marriage 173 1,300,519
Yes on 502 Legalization of Marijuana 243 1,540,928
No on 502 Legalization of Marijuana 239 1,238,386
Brad Owen (D) Lt. Governor 244 1,417,833
Bill Finkbeiner (R) Lt. Governor 181 1,222,927
Hans Dunshee (D) State Rep. 44th Dist. Pos. 1 204 31,921
Mark Harmsworth (R) State Rep. 44th Dist. Pos. 1 173 27,106
Elizabeth Scott (R) State Rep. 39th Dist. Pos. 2 183 27,065
Eleanor Walters (D) State Rep. 39th Dist. Pos. 2 155 23,445
There were 21 contested positions that were voted on in the mock election. Only 12 of those races matched the results of the real election. Some differences are as follows:
Jay Inslee (D) Governor 197 1,413,467
Rob McKenna (R) Governor 250 1,346,961
Suzan DelBene (D) U.S. Rep. Cong. Dist. 1 191 156,393
John Koster (R) U.S. Rep. Cong. Dist. 1 224 135,637
Yes on 1240 Charter Schools 181 1,373,910
No on 1240 Charter Schools 270 1,329,717
