Chambana Sun

Jefferson Middle School in Champaign wants its students to know that their votes matter, even if they are not counted in the actual election.

The school held a Mock Election this week as an opportunity to educate students and engage the community.

Christine Adrian, social studies teacher at the school, is once again organizing the event. She started the activity when President Obama first ran in 2008. It was an important experience for both the students and their parents.

“I saw the opportunity to teach kids about the election process because, as an adult, I know that there are a lot of adults that aren’t really sure about the election process and how it all works,” Adrian told the Chambana Sun. “We have a lot of families who are naturalized citizens who come from other places, and they may not know what to do. We have a portion of parents who may have never voted before because they are younger parents. I wanted to give not only a tool for the kids to be able to learn how to vote, but then they go back and talk to their parents about it.”

For her hard work, Adrian has been honored by the National Association of Secondary School Principals for Outstanding Contributions to Teaching Democracy four times.

“It has been very successful,” Adrian said. “The kids really tend to get a lot out of it. They get really excited about it. I do have a few former students here and there that will contact me, especially during the election year, and ask me if I am running the election again. It is something that is memorable to them.”

The entire school and the community are all involved with the election. Champaign Mayor Deb Feinen was present for this year’s event, as well as volunteers from nearby polling stations. The event helps build dialogue between children and their parents, as well as the community.

“I like to get at least one public official in here so that they can see that adults care about what they are doing, that it is not just necessarily pretend votes and that it is really good practice for them when they get to be of age,” Adrian said.

The project was initially a big endeavor for Adrian and the school.

“I knew it was going to be a big undertaking,” Adrian said. “Mostly for me, it was how to organize this so that it ran efficiently and that it was easy for students and the social studies teachers, that it wasn’t an extra activity that was seen as something as tacked onto the curriculum, but rather something that is a part of the curriculum.”

Believing that the biggest civic duty in the U.S. is voting, Adrian wanted to make it as authentic to the real elections as possible. That meant setting up a voter-registration table for students to register (students are not forced to register, but are told they could not vote if they are not registered), compiling a list of registered students, and having them vote in the mock election. The students are also taught extensively about the Electoral College and are given sheets to track and compare results.

“It’s taken a few rounds to make it seamless, and we’ve gotten better and better each time. I think we pretty much have gotten it down to a good system.”