November 8, 2000

Eastern students learn politics at electoral college

Elementary school holds mock presidential convention

By JUSTIN CARINCI
Herald staff writer
       You could call it getting out the youth vote.
      The fourth and perhaps most important presidential debate of this election year took place last Friday at Traverse City Eastern Elementary School.
      Eastern Elementary fourth-graders staged a mock presidential convention at a school assembly, with state delegates casting their votes to elect the next president.
      Students Jake Carra and Doug Burke represented Al Gore, and Emma Berger and Colton Cartwright represented George W. Bush in a spirited exchange on issues such as education, the environment and gun control.
      After hearing the candidates' positions, fourth-grade delegates representing the 50 states came forward to cast their electoral votes for one of the major-party candidates.
      Eastern Elementary School principal Bill Smith mediated the assembly. He started doing similar electoral conventions with students when he was a teacher.
      Smith regards the election as a unique opportunity to interest students in getting involved in their education. "They get a lot more out of it if it's a living experience, if they see the power of big states and get excited about the process," Smith said. To highlight this influence, states with the largest number of electors voted last.
      The election came down to the delegate-rich state of California and its 54 electoral votes. Gore had a slim lead before the final state and seemed poised to take the elementary electoral college. In a stunning move, however, the California delegate cast his vote for Bush, handing him the election in a last-minute thriller.
      This suspense could spur children to lead politically informed lives. Smith believes what the students learned about the electoral college will prove invaluable to them in future elections. Many of Eastern's fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders will only sit out one more election before going to the polls themselves. "A lot of them only have one more presidential election and then the next time they're voters," Smith noted.
      Though the school's scream factor favored Bush, Gore had some die-hard supporters. Noelle Reardon, the delegate from Colorado, felt Bush's animal rights record was lacking. "They said they're going to go in there with tranquilizers and shoot the animals and bring them to the place and then bring them back but I don't think that's right," Reardon said. "I'm not voting for them and I don't like anything else they said."
      Colton Cartwright, who represented Bush, said the Texas governor "would make a pretty good president." He had some reservations about Bush, however. "I just wish he would say 'no vouchers'," Cartwright said, "because I don't want any vouchers."