Washington students vote for president

SANDPOINT — Local elementary school students could have a hand in predicting the winner of this year’s presidential election.

This year, the students are participating in a national Studies Weekly campaign called “Every Kid Votes,” a program with a history of accurately predicting the next president of the United States. It all began last week when the school’s sixth-graders shared the lessons learned from their civics classes with their younger peers by illustrating the process of voting.

“They loved the chance to instruct (the younger students),” Principal Sandy Maras said. “The kids tended to listen to them more than their teachers most of the time.”

After the students received their instruction on the nature of voting, it was time to prepare. They learned the process of filling out a ballot using sample forms online. These lessons culminated in the entire school, with the exception of kindergarten students, voting for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney on Tuesday.

According the Maras, the students were all very excited to get an early shot at participatory democracy. She talked with several students after casting their votes to gather their thoughts and received very positive responses.

“I think it is really cool,” one student told her. “I think it’s a good opportunity even though it doesn’t really count right now.”

“I think that it is good for students to do this because it really helps us understand what’s happening,” added another student.

Since the process took place in an online format, the school staff won’t be responsible for counting the students’ approximately 300 votes. That job will go to the folks at Studies Weekly. According to Maras, those curious about an individual student’s presidential choice could probably get a pretty good idea from his or her parents.

“The students usually vote for the same candidate their parents support,” Maras said.   

That makes the campaign extremely accurate at calling the results of the official election. Washington Elementary students’ votes will be added to the campaign’s national results.

In 2004, the organization’s first national kid’s vote project accurately predicted George W. Bush’s reelection, while the second round correctly called the election for Obama. With a 100-percent track record on the books, the results of the 2012 Every Kid Votes could interest more than teachers and parents.

Every Kid Votes’ voting period has been extended to Nov. 2 to account for schools impacted by Hurricane Sandy. In its current, incomplete form — posted on the organization’s website at www.studiesweekly.com/vote —  Obama leads Romney 486,077 to 345,852. The only way to learn whether or not Every Kid Votes maintains its perfect record is to keep an eye on the results the evening of Nov. 6.