The students of District 218 have spoken: If the 2016 election were in their hands, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton would be our nation’s next president, Tammy Duckworth our state’s next senator and prom would be free for a whole lot of south suburban high school seniors.
On Tuesday, one week before the nation’s official election, all three of the district’s schools voted in a mock election. Official voting booths supplied by Cook County Clerk David Orr’s office were set up inside each school’s cafeteria.
Those students who had signed up to vote during a registration drive in early October were allowed to cast ballots for president, U.S. senator, U.S. representatives, Illinois comptroller, and the proposed amendment to Article IX, section 11 of the Illinois Constitution, which calls for revenue generated from transportation taxes and fees be used exclusively for transportation issues.
In addition, the schools put up two referendums of their own: a school uniform proposal and one that would provide free prom tickets for seniors who have not had any disciplinary issues.
John Wydra, who teaches government and Advanced Placement government, organized the effort.
“The reason we’re having this is to give the students a chance to vote before they do it in real life,” Wydra said. “In the classroom no matter what you’re learning, whenever the students have an experience, they remember it much better. The neat thing about this process, it only happens every four years. These kids will only have one opportunity in high school to do this.”
Wydra said the district set up a mock election four years ago.
“Back then we had just over 100 students in each building vote. This time we wanted to ramp it up. So, we got some T-shirts and had students register,” he said.
More than a quarter of the student body, about 400 students, at both Richards in Oak Lawn and Shepard in Palos Heights registered to vote, while more than 500 students did so at Eisenhower in Blue Island. Turnout was highest at Shepard, with 74 percent of those registered casting ballots on election day. At Eisenhower, 72 percent headed to the polls. And Richards saw a turnout of 49 percent.
“We wanted to make this as real life as possible,” Wydra said. The students voted during their lunch periods.
Recently, Illinois’s learning standards for social studies changed, Wydra said. Now, schools need to include a civics component, he said.
“This is our way of doing that, having a mock election. We’re getting students to understand what citizenship means and the importance of voting,” he said.
Inside the Richards cafeteria, Credence Clearwater Revival’s song, “Fortunate Son,” blasted from a boom box while seniors Emma Weiland and Tiffany Donohue checked student IDs before handing out ballots.
“We had a couple of incidents of voter fraud,” Emma said. “A couple of kids tried to vote without being registered.”
But, she emphasized, things did not get ugly. “They just walked away after we told them no,” she said.
Volunteering for the event, Emma said, “Helps us understand the election process more. I’m 18. I’m gonna be voting for the first time, so I thought this would help.”
Even though she is still 17 and won’t be able to vote in this year’s presidential election, Tiffany said, “Doing this helps me understand the process.”
Senior Katlyn Graham, of Chicago Ridge, said she voted for Clinton.
“Donald Trump isn’t very much a worthy candidate because he spreads all this bigotry and racism across the country and I don’t think he should be in charge of our country. It’s not right. Why should our country be fueled by hate when we’re trying to mend things together?” she said. “Plus I like (Clinton). I agree with a lot of her points on immigration. There should be a better system rather than just kicking all immigrants out. And I agree with her on women’s rights.”
Michael Kaminski, a senior from Oak Lawn, went the other way.
“I voted for Trump because I trust him a lot more than Hillary. Despite all the social issues he has and all the bad things he’s done, I find him to be more blunt and honest. He seems to know how to handle business and I feel like economic issues are of utmost importance and he does know how to handle money,” he said.
Michael said all citizens should first get educated on the candidates, and then vote.
“You should exercise your right,” he said. “Not every country in the world gets to vote.”
Dabronte Glasby, a senior who lives in Calumet Park, also voted for Trump.
“I look at it from the point of view of my religion,” he said. “There’s a lot I agree with Hillary about but some of the things go against my religion, like abortion.”
The mock election, he added, gives students a chance to learn how to vote, as well as whom to vote for.
“This enables us to have an affect on the world. Plus, it gives students a chance to see how the process works. It’s more than voting for president – it’s voting for senator too,” he said.
Though he considers himself an independent, in the mock election, he said, he opted to vote straight Republican.
Jovani Natividad, a senior from Oak Lawn, said he voted for Clinton “because I was raised a Democrat and I hold Democratic views myself.
“I live in a middle class household and my dad is an immigrant from the Philippines,” he said.
Jovani is enrolled in AP government and said the class has helped him learn more about the process of vetting candidates.
“Before this, I didn’t have much know-how as to how to get information or how to formulate my opinion,” he said. “Now, I’m getting most of my information on elections from class. I’m learning how to find unbiased sources and to stay away from Twitter and social media for that kind of thing.”
Junior Lidia Techane, of Chicago Ridge, said she cast her vote for Clinton “because I think she could be a good leader. I’ve always supported Democrats because of all the freedom they give to people. I think Donald Trump has good points but at the same time, the things he’s said — he doesn’t seem fair. And she seems fair.”
Nearly 80 percent of those who voted at Eisenhower cast ballots for Clinton. At Richards, Clinton won 61 percent to Trump’s 26 percent. And at Shepard, Clinton took the contest 48 percent to 37 percent.
The race for U.S. Senator followed suit, with Democrat Tammy Duckworth beating Republican incumbent Mark Kirk decidedly at all three schools.
Not surprisingly, Wydra said, the two district-specific referendum panned out as expected, with students voting thumbs up to free prom tickets and hands down on school uniforms.
Jacob Rivera, 18, signed up to be an election judge for the event because he thought it would be good training for the real thing, which he’s scheduled to do next Tuesday at the precinct inside the Chicago Ridge fire department.
The senior who hopes to be an engineer one day said he signed up to be an election judge for two reasons:
“I’m interested in the process,” he said. “And you get paid.”
dvickroy@ tribpub.com
Twitter @dvickroy
