By Rhys Baker

USD 379’s Garfield School Fourth and Fifth Graders will participate in a mock election on Tuesday. Fifth Grade Social Studies teacher Hannah Chestnut discusses the decision to hold a mock election for the 170 students, “We decided to do a mock election this year because we want to be able to instill in our children and our students that voting is a very important thing to do. And then, moving forward, when they get older, they’ll hopefully be excited about the opportunity to vote. We will also learn about the voting process since we are trying to make this as realistic as possible. And hopefully, open up good conversations with their adults at home about it as well.”

The students will have Voter ID cards, and voting will occur during their freedom 50 time, which is their lunch/recess time. Volunteers have offered their time to explain each step to the students. Fourth-grade social Studies teacher Jennifer Pfizenmaier says students will have four candidates to choose from, “Going to vote for the presidential candidates. We’ve seen four candidates on the present ballot, so we have all four on there. We will see the results the day after the actual election. So, they can see how their votes compared to the United States vote.”

All student votes will be anonymous, and ballots will be paper. Garfield teachers have discussed the election with students, encouraged them to vote, understand the overall importance of voting, and are encouraged to discuss voting reasonings with the adults in their households.