By Mary Frances McCarthy
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 11/4/04)

The polls opened a week early in Fairfax.

Students arrived at Paul VI Catholic High School on Oct. 26, and although the majority of them are not yet 18 years old, they were registered to vote. Throughout the day they filed in to the cafeteria and voted in the school’s mock Presidential election.

Unlike many schools that hold mock elections and decide a winner based on the popular vote, Paul VI was divided into states, based on homerooms, and the winner of the election was based on electoral votes.

Ballot boxes lined tables in the cafeteria, each one marked with the state that it represented. Students working at the polls checked the registration of each voter, ensuring that everyone who voted was registered, and that they were allowed only one vote.

Students campaigned for candidates and prepared news broadcasts explaining the election process. There was a bulletin board in the cafeteria advocating for Bush and explaining his support for the unborn. Several girls had "I Love Kerry" written in red on their arms. Student reporters held exit polls. With the exception of the young age of the voters, the atmosphere was very similar to that of polling locations on election day.

News programs aired throughout the day to update the staff and student body on the progress of the election.

One student, Charles Evans, prepared a news piece comparing the Electoral College to the World Series.

"In the World Series it is possible to have more total points at the end of seven games and still lose," Evans said. "The winning team must win games, and games require teamwork. Think of winning states like winning games." If the president was elected based on popular votes, Evans said "Nobody would campaign in the Midwest; they’d only go to cities because that’s where the most people are."

Students found the election to be very informative because it was a concrete way to learn more about the electoral process, a process that one student said even many adults do not fully understand.

Paul VI teacher Julie Becker, who organized the election, thought it important to teach students that voting is an important aspect of citizenship and that "democracy is not a spectator sport. Everybody is on the team and everybody plays."

At the end of the day, John Kerry won 33 electoral votes, winning Georgia, Alaska and New Jersey. George W. Bush won 403 electoral votes, winning the remaining 47 states and the District of Columbia. Bush took 75 percent of the popular vote.