LISBON – Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry will be the next president.

Incumbent Congressman Michael Michaud will keep his job. Maine won’t get a tax cap. Bear trapping will remain legal.

Lisbon High School students have spoken.

“As Lisbon High School goes, so goes the nation,” said 14-year-old Kendrick Gores.

In the school’s fourth mock presidential election since 1992, more than 300 students took to the polls – old voting booths outside the cafeteria – to cast their ballots for the next president, congressman and two state referendums. In the past three presidential election years, Lisbon students have chosen the winning candidates and issues 95 percent of the time.

They were wrong in 1996 when they voted for Democrat Joseph Brennan over Republican Susan Collins for the U.S. Senate. They were half wrong in 2000 when they voted for Democrat Al Gore instead of Republican George W. Bush.

Gore won the state and the national popular vote, but lost the electoral vote.

On Monday, 313 students cast ballots, and their predictions, for this year’s election.

“I think it’s important to have an opinion, even if you’re not old enough to really vote,” said 17-year-old Samantha Hayslip, who cast one of the first ballots for Kerry and Michaud. “I think it’s cool that the whole school gets an opinion. I want to be part of that.”

The mock election was spearheaded by an entry-level government class. For nearly two hours, a dozen freshmen and sophomores yelled “Vote now!” and “Rock the vote!” as other students mobbed the hallway on their way to the cafeteria.

Some, like 18-year-old Dan Suthers, didn’t need much urging. A Bush campaign worker, he was eager to vote.

“I hope Bush wins in the school,” he said. “If it’s going on (for Bush), I’ll do it.”

Others, like Scott Wing, needed to be prodded.

The 15-year-old wasn’t planning to vote until some friends who were working the election urged him to cast a ballot. Just after noon, he stood in the small voting cubicle and stared at the ballot in front of him. Slowly, he penciled X’s next to Bush for president and Socialist Equality Party candidate Carl Cooley for the 2nd District representative.

“I just go along with what they believe in,” he said.

As Wing dropped his ballot into the ballot box on his way to lunch, he said he was glad he voted.

“In some way, my voice might be heard,” he said.

For a few students, no amount of peer pressure could turn them into voters.

“I don’t like either one of the candidates,” said 16-year-old Carl Grady after a classmate tried unsuccessfully to get him to vote. “And it’s not going to have a real say in who gets elected. Real voting, that’s fine.”

Officials had hoped to get 80 percent of the students to cast ballots. Sixty-seven percent did.

Kerry won by 11 votes, besting Bush 145-134. Better Life candidate Ralph Nader received 30 votes and Green independent candidate David Cobb got two.

Students re-elected Michaud with 188 votes, a landslide compared to Republican Brian Hamel’s 86 votes and Cooley’s 30.

Students voted against a tax cap, 198 to 114. They voted to keep bear baiting, trapping and hunting dogs by a vote of 171 to 135.

About 400 other schools across Maine are expected to hold their mock elections today. Those results will be tallied and released together on Wednesday.

Because Lisbon High School decided not to participate in the statewide mock election, its results will not be included.

Although Lisbon has a good track record of picking winners, officials say the mock election isn’t just about predictions. It’s a learning experience, said social studies teacher Dean Hall.

“Get involved now,” he said. “Eighteen isn’t very far away.”