During the week of October 27, Elm Street School’s seventh and eighth grade students held an election. The election was for all students in the school. I, an eighth grader at Elm Street, got to help out during the election. Each one of my classmates got a different job. One person would check students off an attendance sheet from each classroom, another would collect voter registration cards, some would work at the ballot box to make sure all ballots were folded correctly, one would give out stickers to voters, and others would monitor the voting areas and answer any questions the voters had, especially the younger students. It was interesting to see all of the different ways and remarks the voters had. Younger children in grades K-3 would ask questions such as, “Who is who?” and then reply with a “Yes, because mommy and daddy and I are rooting for them all the way!” I thought it was funny and knew if I was in that grade, I would probably vote for the same as my parents. I think that is the nature of kids.

But, as the older children arrived, I noticed they were more independent, could vote on their own, and didn’t have funny, cute questions. I thought that showed their responsibility and knowledge towards the election. I enjoyed this assignment very much and felt passionate about seeing each student in our school vote.

On the ballot there were simple and easy directions for each student to follow. The eighth graders made the ballots and then voted on which they liked best. After one was chosen, our history teacher, Mrs. Callahan, made lots of copies. The ballot for grades K-3 were simple and told the students that they had to color one smiley face for each running candidate, John McCain or Barrack Obama. Below they also had to color a second smiley for either Senator Susan Collins or Tom Allen. After, each student left their voting booth (desk area) and placed their ballot in the voter’s box. Then following the line, they met up with the sticker helper, who gave each student a sticker for voting. I could tell that the kids felt more responsible, powerful, and mature and I was proud.

Finally, after the ballots were all hand-counted by the seventh and eighth grade, a winner of the race was announced. The results of the election were given on Thursday, October 30. The candidate who won the election was Barrack Obama and the House of Representative winner was Susan Collins. Although not all students were pleased with the results, they saw what it really was like when voting took place. Sometimes in life one gets what they want and sometimes one has to deal with life and move on. I feet that’s what students at Elm Street did, for they took the election serious. Those who were pleased with the two winners celebrated in a “Woo hoo,” “hurrah,” and “Yes, I told you they would win!” It was an interesting and fun experience and I hope to do it again sometime. Thank you for making this possible, Mrs. Callahan!