Donald Trump Wins First Round of Minnesota's Mock High School Election

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Steve Simon announced the results for the first round of Minnesota Students Vote 2016, the statewide mock election for high school students. More than 77,000 students from 213 high schools so far have cast a mock ballot for U.S. President. The results show that Republican Donald Trump narrowly defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton, 34.97 percent to 32.89 percent.

Trump and his running mate, Mike Pence, received 26,930 votes while Clinton and her vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine received 25,333 votes.

Additional high schools have scheduled their mock election between now and Election Day, and results will be updated at that time, according to a news release.

“The Students Vote 2016 initiative is about getting good habits started early and this year tens of thousands of young and soon-to-be voters had the opportunity to get invaluable, hands-on experience with the electoral process,” Secretary Simon said in a statement.

“I’m especially grateful to the hundreds of schools, administrators, teachers and students who helped administer the mock election, and the over 77,000 students who made their voices heard.”

High schools were required to report results by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 26 for inclusion in the first round of results. Each high school was given the ability to decide how and where the voting took place, whether in one central location, over the lunch hour, in individual classrooms, or something entirely different.

Image via Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State