Students vote in gubernatorial mock election
From Issue 4
On Thursday, October 24th, a governor mock election was offered to students in grades tenth through twelfth at Jackson Prep. The event is organized by current secretary of state, Delbert Hosemann, under the program, “Promote the Vote”, which provides hands-on learning for the future voters of Mississippi.
Students prepare to cast their mock ballots.
To imitate a real election, students were required to present their identification card in order to vote. Sponsor of the Jackson Prep mock election, Ms. Lou Ann McKibben, said the election “maintained integrity” when accepting and counting votes. Also, she was pleasantly surprised by the large participation from students in voting.
Students had five choices for governor: Republican Tate Reeves, Democrat Jim Hood, Constitutionalist Bob Hickingbottom, Independentist David Singletary, and a blank space labelled ‘Other’. The results were tallied after school and sent to Secretary Hosemann.
Ms. McKibben said mock elections are important because “the sooner we can convince the younger generations that voting is important, the more likely they’ll become involved citizens as adults.”
Sophomore Emma Rose agreed with Ms. McKibben, “I think that it’s a good thing for students to be able to practice voting before the real thing. This way kids know what to expect when they [vote] in the future.”
Tate Reeves won the mock election with 55% of the vote, and the actual election with 52%.
