National Student/Parent Mock Election

More Than 125,000 Florida Students Vote in Mock Election; Obama Wins State, Nation

ORLANDO, Oct. 30, 2008 -- More than 125,000 Florida students in grades K through 12 learned about making democratic choices this week by casting their votes for president during the National Student/Parent Mock Election.

Students from all grades participated, and nearly half of the voters were in grades six through eight. The election in Florida was coordinated by the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship, a partnership between the University of Central Florida's Lou Frey Institute of Politics and Government and the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of Florida.

In Florida, students overwhelmingly voted for the Obama/Biden ticket over McCain/Palin by a margin of 63 to 31 percent. Nationally, more than 2.5 million students cast ballots, and they favored Obama by a margin of 62 to 34 percent.

Reflecting the current crisis facing the nation, 60 percent of students in Florida said that it is absolutely critical that the next administration focus on the economy. Other issues drew substantially fewer votes including: the war in Iraq (43 percent), global climate change and the environment (43 percent), national security (40 percent), the high cost of energy (39 percent), the cost and quality of health care (39 percent), and the educational system (38 percent). The war in Afghanistan anchored the bottom of the issues list with only 35 percent saying that it is critical that the next administration focus on it over the next four years.

Students from many schools also cast their ballots in congressional races and expressed their opinion on key issues – such as health care, the economy, and Iraq – that have been a central part of the presidential campaign.

Some schools organized large-scale events around the election.  At Space Coast Jr./Sr. High School, for example, about two thousand students voted in the school's media center, two students dressed up as senators John McCain and Barack Obama and greeted their fellow students as they were headed to vote.

"Democracy is not something that we are born understanding," said former Congressman Lou Frey, the founder of the Lou Frey Institute. "It is something that must be taught to each new generation. There is no better way to learn than by doing. The National Student/Parent Mock Election is a wonderful example of how we should be working to engage the next generation of young people."

Former Senator Bob Graham agreed. "Too often," he said, "we teach civics as if it were a spectator sport. It's not. You have to learn how to do democracy." The Mock Election helps students learn the skills that they will need to be active and engaged citizens.

Major national partners for the National Student/Parent Mock Election include Google, Pearson Education, School Perceptions, and USA Today. The effort also received support from a number of other organizations, including the National Parent Teachers Association, the National School Boards Association, the National Council for the Social Studies, the American Association of School Administrators, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the National Association of Secretaries of State, and the Council of the Great City Schools. The Election Assistance Commission and the Kaplan Foundation provide ongoing funding for the Mock Election.

Florida's 2008 Mock Election Results: