From Oct. 7-9, 1,316 Aragon students voted in a mock election during their history class. The results were posted on Oct. 8 on the California Secretary of State website.
71,098 students in California participated in this mock election and Harris/Walz won with 48.69% of the votes. All of the results in Aragon reflect the state-wide results as well, with Harris/Walz winning 68.9% of the votes.
Aragon students also passed all of the propositions. Proposition 35, which mandated the state help pay for certain health programs, and Proposition 4, which let the government get a loan to pay for safer drinking water and wildlife protection, were passed with the highest percentage of students voting yes, 84.2% and 82.4% respectively. Proposition 33, which would prevent the state from controlling rent, had the lowest percentage with only 54% of students voting in favor of it.
“I expected most of [the propositions] to pass because most of them seemed like an improvement,” said sophomore Emi Lo. “Since we live in California, I also expected Kamala Harris to win.”
However, American Government teacher Giancarlo Corti commented that these results for propositions are not normally reflective of actual ballot results.
“It’s hard for an average student to read a proposition and think ‘That’s a horrible idea’,” Corti said. “Everything sounds good. Let’s give money to education, clean water and get rid of slavery in the Constitution. The way a proposition is written is supposed to be objective, but it always sounds like we’re solving a problem. For adult voters, it’s far more likely that people vote no. They like things the way they are, especially concerning money … But as a student, when there are no high stakes in the election for them individually, it’s easier to say, we should do this all.”
Before voting, students did background research on what they were voting for to help aid their decisions.
“The way I do my research is I look at both sides of the argument,” said junior Isaac Flores. “For example, for [Proposition] 2, I looked at both websites that say no and say yes, and then the [the pros and cons] that the prop explained … For the [Presidential] election, my family [is] Republican, and I sided with them.”
The social studies teachers also helped the students prepare by providing presentations and short videos.
“[Based on] the one-minute videos, [I] decided whether or not I thought [the proposition] would help California and the US, [and] if it would be beneficial for my community and my family,” Lo said.
Every student had a different way of deciding what to vote for.
“If it cost me money or if I had to pay taxes, then I’d probably say no,” said freshman Samuel Chosiovsky. “But sometimes if it was for a good cause, I’d say yes.”
On Nov. 4 and 5, there will be a voting pre-registration drive as well as an information booth for students who are interested in the upcoming presidential election.
