UPDATED: Souhegan Students Choose Mitt Romney

Will the results of last week's mock voting at Souhegan High School be replicated in the New Hampshire Primary?

The school has tallied the results of their Mock Presidential Primary, which gives a solid win to GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Romney received 39 percent of the vote, followed by Ron Paul with 32 percent of the vote. In a distant third place came John Hunstman with 10 percent of the vote. Rick Santorum, who came in a very close second in the Iowa Caucus, came in sixth place with students at 3.3 percent of the vote.

Barack Obama won 91 percent of the vote on the democratic ticket.

Social studies classes will compare the Souhegan results with the NH Primary results from Tuesday as a way to encourage awareness about the political process.

“It was a good warm up for the general election; we should shoot for a much higher voter turn out and each do our part to stress the importance of exercising our civic duty,” said Social Studies Department Coordinator Jess Tremblay.

Original Story:

Most of them may not be old enough to vote in the real election, but Souhegan High School students still had a chance to pick their favorite candidate on Friday.

The high school's social studies department sponsored a Mock Presidential Primary today where students cast their vote as excitement for the real primary builds across the state.

The real one may not come until Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean the students were not excited to see who their peers chose this year.

"I can't wait to see the results!" exclaimed sophomore Lauren Ostrowski as she volunteered at the registration table.

A full-out campaign to register “voters” prior to Friday’s election took place all week. Students had to choose their party for the primary, but some had to be reminded who was who in current politics.

Students even expressed surprise that there were candidates running against Barack Obama on the Democratic ticket and at the sheer number of candidates on the Republican ticket.  

The social studies department has been running mock elections for every presidential election since the school opened.

“The teachers see it as a great opportunity to expose students to the voting process, as well as model the behavior of responsible citizens,” said social studies coordinator, Jess Tremblay.

As students filed into the voting space on Friday, they were greeted with an organization very similar to the actual voting process. Students picked up their ballot at stations divided by last name, cast their vote, and deposited the ballot at the other end of the room in the ballot boxes.

The results of Souhegan’s primary will be announced on Monday and the social studies classes will compare the Souhegan results with the NH Primary results from Tuesday as a way to encourage awareness among students about the political process.

As Tremblay declared, “Let’s promote responsible citizenship and rock the vote!”

Will the results reflect the real New Hampshire primary? Only time will tell.