News

Mock election promises to engage Dominion students

Mallory Williamson and Arya Jian-Najar|September 9, 2016

On November 8, 2016, the American public will vote on who will become the 45^th President of the United States. However, the vast majority of students at Dominion—all underclassmen, and the majority of the senior class—won’t be quite old enough to cast a ballot. Still, each member of the DHS student body will have a say in the mock election hosted by Dominion’s AP and Academic government classes.

Preparations for the mock election, which will be held on November 2^nd, will dominate much of the first instructional quarter of Dominion’s government classes. “Every government student will take on a role,” says Ms. Rodgers, one of Dominion’s AP Government teachers. “They might be part of a Super PAC, an interest group…or part of the media,” Rodgers said.

The mock election’s timeline will kick off with the selection of students to portray the candidates—Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Gary Johnson, and Jill Stein—and represent their respective platforms throughout the campaign process. In mid-October, students in government classes will begin creating propaganda posters and campaign ads for their chosen candidate which will air on the morning announcements.

The final stage of the mock election will take place during 4^th and 8^th block senior Titan Times, where the four candidates will deliberate on a variety of election issues in a format reminiscent of TV debates. “The mock election will feature real candidates, real issues, and real platforms. There won’t be any ‘Trump will get us free pizza,’” Rodgers said.

Finally, every Dominion student will be given the opportunity to vote for their candidate of choice during Clubhouse on November 2^nd. The votes will be tabulated, much like a real Presidential election, using an electoral college drawn of clubhouses around the school. “The auditorium and fine arts wing will be California,” Rodgers said, “and some clubhouses will be, say, Wyoming, by themselves. It’s really luck of the draw where any one clubhouse is placed.”

Though the mock election won’t have any significant bearing on the rest of the school year—the winning candidate won’t get to decide school policy—Rodgers hopes it will give students the opportunity to immerse themselves in the democratic process. “We’re structuring it in a way to give a really meaningful opportunity. We are trying to emphasize citizenship, civic duty, and understanding of issues,” Rodgers said.

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