The beginning of my own political awareness came in 1976. I was 11. Although I had known of Nixon, of course, I had never really thought in terms of Republican vs. Democrat. Our 6th grade class held a mock election between home-town boy Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. Overwhelming sentiment was for Jerry, being from here and all, but there was this girl, who I thought was really cool, and she was a staunch Carter supporter. There were a few other Carter supporters- I admired their bravery in the face of all that peer pressure.
It opened my eyes to the choice. It was the last time I "voted" for a Republican (until the primary this year, and that was only for strategical reasons).
Today the kids up at Leland High School are holding a mock election and are having a webcast of the event. What a great idea, getting kids involved and excited about the process now, and perhaps they will continue in the future.
Welcome to the Michigan Mock Election live webcast page. The webcast from Leland High School in Leland, Michigan will take place on Thursday, November 2nd at 9 AM and be viewable right from this page. It is produced and sponsored by MichiganLiveEvents.com and Absolute Michigan.
The Leland location is the Michigan site for the National Student/Parent Mock Election and students at Leland will tabulate the results for the entire state. We will post them here on Friday morning!
The National Student/Parent Mock Election makes students and parents aware of the power of their ballot by actively involving them in a full-fledged campaign and national election. In 2004, the last presidential election year, over 4 million students, parents and teachers participated in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and 14 countries/territories around the world where Americans have schools. Over 40 million have participated since the project began. The National Student/Parent Mock Election is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.
Absolute Michigan is an awesome site- check it out sometime. They have a great collection of Michigan links. Give them a visit.