Here at Shadow Ridge, students participated in a mock election through Mr. Nighswonger´s government classes. A mock election is a simulated voting experience that gives students a chance to learn about the electoral process. In the mock election, students had the opportunity to vote on candidates and ballot measures within their voting district. The simulation is set up to be similar to real election polling setups, using an electronic ballot via Google Forms, voting booths, and other standard procedures.
The mock election was held in the library on Friday, November 1 and Monday, November 4, 2024 to ensure that A day and B Day classes could participate. Students who participated, voted with their social studies classes; seniors with American Government, juniors US History, sophomores World History, and freshmen with Freshmen Studies or Health.
When they entered the library, they went to a voting “booth¨ for semi-private voting so the neighboring booths couldn’t see their screens. The Google Form showed on the screen, which explained the office and candidates, what the party abbreviations are, and what the 7 ballot issues they were deciding on.
Shadow Ridge Librarian, Lisa Williamson states, “Mock elections are often used in educational settings to help students understand democracy, the civic responsibilities of voting, and how elections work. They typically align with actual elections to add context, encouraging civic engagement and sparking discussions on current political issues. It will be interesting to compare our results to the city/state/national results.¨
Although this may seem unnecessary to those who attend Shadow, it is not required for students to vote, just like in real life today. Students in all grades were invited to vote through their individual teacher.
Throughout the process of setting up the election, Ms. Williamson and other staff members worked effortlessly to get the mock election up and running. From the biggest needs, to the littlest details, they worked as a team to ensure students had everything they needed.
Mr. Nighswonger’s classes had a project recently where they had to research specific candidates and ballot measures in Nevada. Many people from the community came to learn about what was be on the ballot so they could make an informed decision.
While they were presenting, Ms. Williamson took photos of their projects and scanned them into a cohesive and coherent slideshow and then shared it with the teachers who teach social studies, Freshmen Studies, and Health. Those specific teachers were asked to share the presentation with their classes so students could be prepared to go into the mock election.
Ms. Williamson states, ¨I also created a schedule for each class to come to the library every 6 minutes to keep the flow of voters a steady stream all day, very few delays happened and it went very smoothly. It was definitely a team effort.¨
The SBTs (Shadow Ridge´s computer technicians) helped get 25 Chromebooks charged and preloaded with the Google Forms for voting, and set it up so that each student could only vote once. Ms. Nebab’s class decorated the booths to be very patriotic.
