Abigail St. Jean
Every year T.C. hosts a mock election in the library. The mock election almost directly simulates a real election. The goal is to educate potential voters and to try to increase voter registration, voter turn up at the polls, and volunteers at the polls.
Matthew Brown, a volunteer from the mock election said that the mock election “gives [the students] an opportunity with hands on experience and what happens on election day.”
The students first collect ballots then, listen to a talk done by former poll volunteers about what district they are in and how to find out where they need to vote on election day.
The sample ballot the students use shows what a voter would see if they were voting in the C district. Since the only city election right now is clerk of court, students voted on different clerk of clerk in district C. The ballot also displayed senate members and house of delegates.
Brown said about 30 students registered at the mock election. Although last year, when the mock election was held in the spring they got about 100 students to register.
About 80-90 students come in with their government classes. Another thing the mock elections do is recruit student volunteers for election day. Students over 18 can get paid for working at Alexandria polls.
