When Sarah Jennings ran for junior class president last year, she campaigned by handing out about 300 individually wrapped cookies.
This week she was back in the halls of Washington High School encouraging students to cast their votes in the school’s mock election.
About 75 percent of the students participated in the election casting their votes for president and governor (without the lure of a cookie).
The school’s Student Government Association held the mock elections and enlisted the help of the Beaufort County Board of Elections. The BOE provided ballots and voting booths.
“We have not had a mock election set up like this before. This is the first time we’ve had the Board of Elections involved,” said Russell Holloman, principal of WHS. “It’s been great.”
SGA advisor Laura Thompson said the election was a wonderful experience for students.
“It gives the students who aren’t eligible to vote because of their age a chance to make their opinions known,” she said.
Freshman Isabel Mayo said she voted for the experience.
“I got to see what a real election would be like,” she said.
Thompson said she was excited to see so many students participate. She involved students from her afternoon class act as precincts, counting ballots from each lunch period.
Students picked Barack Obama for president and Pat McCrory for governor.
Jennings predicted the high school’s race results would emulate next month’s state results.
“I think we have a pretty good representation of economic and social groups that will match up pretty well,” she said.