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Lawrence students cast their presidential votes

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   Noah Levinsky, Olivia Maurer and David Kayne all know whom they would elect as president if they could cast a ballot — Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.
   In fact, the trio of 9-year-olds “voted” for Sen. Obama on Tuesday afternoon as they and their classmates took part in a mock election at the Lawrence Intermediate School on Eggerts Crossing Road. They were asked to choose among Sen. Obama, Republican nominee U.S. Sen. John McCain and perennial independent candidate Ralph Nader.
   ”I voted for Obama because the economy is very low,” Noah said after he exited one of the five black-painted cardboard refrigerator boxes that doubled as a voting booth for the fourth-graders.
   ”McCain would lower taxes for the wealthy, but keep them the same for the middle class. Obama will raise taxes a little bit for the wealthy,” Noah said, explaining why he voted for the Illinois senator on the laptop computer that passed as a voting machine.
   Olivia said she favors Sen. Obama because he is “environmentally friendly and that is one of the things I care about most. I really think Obama should win because I think he may do things about my biggest concern, which is global warming.”
   ”Obama is probably going to win, in my opinion — but I’m not going to tell my grandfather (that I voted for Obama) because he likes McCain,” Olivia said. She added that her grandfather lives in Connecticut.
   David said he voted for Sen. Obama because he believes the Democratic nominee has “better politics.” Sen. Obama would send fewer people to war and he would do things in office, he said.
   ”McCain didn’t promise very much and even if he did, it’s very unlikely that it would happen,” David said. “Obama is a very good leader. He has basically decided what he is going to do (in office).”
   Each of the would-be voters checked in with the poll-workers — mothers who volunteered for the job — and presented the adults with their voter registration cards. Each card listed the child’s name and birthdate, the teacher’s name and their grade.
   ”They feel that (voting) empowers them,” said poll-worker Sheila Brush as she watched the young voters line up outside the voting booth. “They feel like it’s very cool. They get to do something we get to do, and it make them feel very grown up.”
   When the ballots were tallied, the results coincided with what Lawrence Intermediate Lower School Principal Christopher Turnbull had predicted — a landslide victory for Sen. Obama, based on playground chatter among the children.
   The fourth-graders voted overwhelmingly for Sen. Obama, casting 76 percent of their votes for the Democrat, and 22 percent for Sen. McCain. One percent voted for Mr. Nader.
   ”Obviously, this is an experience we want to capitalize on,” Mr. Turnbull said of the presidential election. “It’s every four years. We want to make the children understand how special it is.”
   Jessica Heller, the school’s gifted and talented program teacher, visited all of the fourth-grade classrooms to prepare students for the election, Mr. Turnbull said. She broke down the viewpoints of the candidates on major issues such as the economy, education, the environment, health care, national security and the war in Iraq and explained them to the children, he said.
   ”Ms. Heller gave them lessons in leadership and what makes a good leader,” Mr. Turnbull said. “She gave them quotes from famous leaders and they had to interpret the quotes. It’s the idea of thinking about leadership — what it entails, what skills and qualities we look for in a leader.”
   Meanwhile, across town at Lawrence High School, students and faculty and staff alike voted overwhelmingly for Sen. Obama in the school’s mock election Monday, according to LHS teacher William Tucker, who teaches Advanced Placement government and politics.
   About half of the 1,200 students cast ballots and about half of the 149 faculty and staff members voted. Sen. Obama claimed 76 percent of the student votes and 80 percent of the adult votes. Sen. McCain earned 15 percent of the student votes and 16 percent of the adult votes. The remainder were divided among four competing candidates.
   ”This is a pretty Democratic neighborhood. I’d say the results are not too surprising,” Mr. Tucker said. He pointed out that although LHS students favored Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Sen. John Kerry in a similar mock election in 2004, that election went to President George W. Bush.
   LHS teacher Daniel Wolf, who teaches American civilization, organized the event. Mr. Wolf arranged to set up 24 laptop computers in a nook in the high school cafeteria so students could vote at lunchtime. The seniors, who can leave campus at lunch, voted in their English classes.
   It took all of about 45 seconds for each student to vote, Mr. Tucker said.
   The ballot was limited to the presidential candidates, he said, because the interest in the top contest has overshadowed any interest in the races for the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.
   ”Students have a great deal of knowledge about what’s going on nationally,” Mr. Tucker said. “It’s hard to believe we have people who are running for the Senate. There has been very little focus on anything else (but the presidential election). I have never seen it like this — the presidential election is so dominant.”
   Mr. Wolf and Mr. Tucker concurred that this is a “great” time to be a history teacher, because the students are so engaged in the national election. Mr. Wolf attributed part of their interest in the election to the candidates’ decision to capitalize on the use of Web sites and blogs — and the students can identify with that.
   But at the same time, the students are beginning to see in this campaign that politics and entertainment are being melded together, Mr. Tucker said. They are getting much of their information from radio, television and the Internet — even to the point that the candidates’ wives have appeared on television talk shows such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which amounts to free advertising, he said.
   Now that the mock election results have been determined, Mr. Tucker said, teachers will continue to discuss the election with the students. Teachers may discuss what can be done by the candidates’ campaigns in the last few days before the election, he said.
   Mr. Tucker noted that the presidential election has been what educators call a “teachable moment,” which means teachers seize an event and discuss its implications with their students.
   ”It has been a ‘teachable moment’ for 10 weeks,” he said.