Arlee students vote in mock election
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ARLEE — Election Day would be much more popular if questions like these were on the ballot.
On Oct. 28, students across Montana voted in a mock election put on by Secretary of State Linda McCulloch’s office and the School Administrators of Montana. While the ballot included races for U.S. Representative, Supreme Court Justices, and state and national ballot issues, students also voted on whether cell phones should be allowed in school and for elementary students, even their favorite ice cream flavor. (“Other” beat chocolate, vanilla and strawberry; chocolate took second place, and vanilla third.)
The mock election is not only great practice for students who’ll be heading to the polls soon in real life, but is also an opportunity for teachers to dispel myths about voting, Arlee High School social studies teacher Jim Polk said. After discussing how the electoral college works and encouraging kids not to buy into the idea that individuals’ votes don’t count, Polk had 84 students vote in the mock election.
“You’ve got to teach these kids how to vote,” Polk said. “Practice makes perfect.”
According to Montana’s youth vote website, Montana schools have been holding mock elections for 20 years on “shoestring budgets.” But in 2008, the Montana Student Mock Election program was awarded the nation’s fifth largest mock election grant by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, giving a huge boost to the program.
Statewide results of the mock election can be found at www.youthvote.mt.gov.
Arlee High School mock election results
Electoral Races
United States Representative
Mike Fellows (L), 6
Dennis McDonald (D), 17
Denny Rehberg (R), 45
Other, 7
Supreme Court Justice #4
Beth Baker, 30
Nels Swandal, 28
Other, 11
Supreme Court Justice #2
Retain Mike Wheat, 31
Do not retain Mike Wheat, 42
State — Ballot Issues
Constitutional Convention Call
FOR calling convention, 30
AGAINST calling convention, 40
I-161 - Abolish nonresident outfitter hunting licenses
FOR abolishing outfitter licenses, 9
AGAINST abolishing outfitter licenses, 65
I-164 - Reduce payday lender interest rates to 36 percent maximum
FOR reducing payday lender interest rates, 47
AGAINST reducing payday lender interest rates, 24
CI-105 - Prohibit real estate transfer tax
FOR amending MT Constitution to prohibit tax, 51
AGAINST amending MT Constitution to prohibit tax, 20
National — Ballot Issues
Most Important
The economy, 51
Energy, 5
Healthcare, 16
Immigration, 2
Other, 0
Second Most Important
The economy, 12
Energy, 13
Healthcare, 21
Immigration, 28
Other, 0
Economy - Which statement do you agree with most?
Our government’s most important economic priority should be to use taxes and stimulus money to increase the number of jobs, 12
Our government should both regulate and protect American businesses; we should not have to compete with countries with low wages and few regulations, and we should not have to rescue failed banks, 16
Our government’s most important economic priority should be cutting taxes and the budget deficit, 28
The U.S. is part of a global economy; we cannot compete worldwide if we don’t have free trade agreements and freedom for investors, 5
Our government should leave economic policy to market forces and not intervene, 11
Energy - Which statement do you agree with most?
Our government should ration energy supplies and penalize inefficient users, 2
If we want a livable planet the government must demand energy conservation and decrease use of fossil fuels using prices and taxes to control use, 18
We will not be able to develop other sources of energy fast enough. The government should focus on teaching energy conservation but let consumers use fossil fuels such as oil or coal as needed now, 24
In the current U.S. recession, cheap and abundant energy to promote economic growth is more important than environmental protection, 12
We should let the market decide, 10
Healthcare - Which statement do you agree with most?
Healthcare should be provided by our government as a basic human right, part of the pursuit of happiness and the Constitutional goal to promote the general welfare, 11
The U.S. Government should provide a single-payer system like other countries, to cut out interference and extra costs from third parties like insurance companies, and should regulate the cost of drugs, 14
The U.S. Government should provide health care only to the neediest, and only for serious problems, 12
The Government cannot be trusted with our health care; it will just create bureaucratic inefficiency that will be worse than the current problems. Existing government health care programs like Medicare are subject to fraud, 9
The government should not get involved with the health care of private citizens. It should be their own responsibility, 25
Immigration - Which statement do you agree with most?
The U.S. border is too complex to protect. It is not physically or economically possible to deport 11 million illegal immigrants. The government should focus instead on forcing illegal immigrants to pay high taxes and help the economy, 14
We should provide a way for illegal immigrants to earn their citizenship, pay a large fine and help the economy, 15
Providing a way for illegal immigrants to become legal will just encourage more illegal immigrants and more lawbreaking. If people are breaking the law, they should be punished, 11
If we do not defend our borders criminals, terrorists, and drug dealers will inundate America, 21
We should defend our borders no matter what it costs us, even if it means American citizens may lose their jobs as a result of the expense, 5
The U.S. Constitution should be changed so that a child born in America cannot be an American citizen unless both of its parents are American citizens, 7
Poll Questions
Cell phone usage
When should students be allowed to use their cell phones during school hours?
Never, 2
In case of emergency, 4
Outside of class time, 36
Anytime, 33
School schedule
Would you support a longer school year and fewer class hours or support keeping the current school hours and length of school year?
Yes - longer school year, 4
No - keep same school schedule, 71
