Lesson learned: Students wanted Clinton for president, but ...

As students went into their winter breaks last month, one of the lessons they took with them is that voting for a new president is a hit-or-miss proposition.
Not officially, of course, but the kids had their say in November in who should be the next president. Students at some schools in the Bethel and Eatonville school districts participated in mock presidential elections that introduced them to what they’ll some day be able to be part of for as adults.
In the Bethel district, students at three middle schools – Frontier, Bethel and Cougar Mountain –were part of statewide voting by students. The faux election, run by the elections division of Washington’s secretary of state, ended with Hillary Clinton out in front with 49 percent of the votes. Donald Trump, the president-elect in the adult political world, trailed at 29 percent. The remaining 22 percent was divided among five other candidates.
At Frontier, students didn’t know until discussing the mock election “that there were more than two people running for president. So that was kind of fun,” said teacher-librarian Jeanne Staley.
The state’s mock election allowed students at every grade level to experience the voting process and be heard, said Jackie Wheeler, a voter education and outreach specialist for the secretary of state.
In addition to the race for the White House, the students were invited to vote on statewide candidates and ballot measures -- “the same issues their parents were voting on,” Wheeler said.
Along with favoring incumbents Jay Inslee and Patty Murray for governor and senator, respectively, the majority of students supported:
• Initiative 1433, to the tune of 64 percent, to raise the state minimum wage to $11 in 2017, $11.50 in 2018, $12 in 2019 and $13.50 in 2020, and requiring employers to provide paid sick leave.
• Initiative 1491, at 68 percent, allowing police, families or household members to obtain court orders temporarily denying access to guns for anyone exhibiting mental illness or behavior indicating they could harm themselves or others.
Votes were cast by 38,528 Washington students --33,104 in grades six through 12, the rest in kindergarten through five. Voting was open Oct. 31 to Nov. 4. All public, private, tribal and homeschool students could participate.
In the Eatonville School District, students at Columbia Crest A-STEM Academy conducted a mock presidential election, but not at the state level.
Michelle Asher, a humanities teacher at Frontier Middle School, said she hopes mock elections will encourage students to be “lifelong voters” once they reach the minimum voting age of 18.