This year’s student vote was held on Thursday, October 29th across LPS through a survey on the district’s website to help engage students in the process of voting, a crucial part of our democracy. Marielle Hinrichs, the Student Vote coordinator, reflects on the importance of voting.
“It is important to vote because your vote is your voice as a citizen,” Marielle said. “It is one of the most clear and fundamental ways of civic participation in your community and country as a whole.”
Students in fourth through 12th grade were able to participate in the mock election, which has been held every two years since 1992. Across the board Biden acquired 60%, or 12,787 votes, while Trump got 30%, or 6,377 votes. Republican candidate Ben Sasse won the senate spot with 39%, or 8,197 votes, against democratic candidate Chris Janicek with only 36%, or 7,666 votes. Incumbent Representative Jeff Fortenberry fell short with 42%, or 8,891 votes, against Democratic candidate Kate Bolz with 45%, or 9,605 votes. Only high school students voted on the initiatives to permit gambling at horse racetracks, however by a significant majority students voted for in all 3 measures. Social Studies teacher Nolan Lott, a facilitator here at East for the student vote, elaborates on the student engagement for this year.
“We had a total of 79% of students who voted, and that gave us a number of 1,800 ballots cast for East High, which actually turned out to be the highest percentage of the vote for any high school, and the most overall votes for any school in Lincoln public schools.”
Looking forward, hopefully more students will continue to participate in the student vote to prepare for becoming a registered voter and understand the importance of voting as a civil duty in our democracy.