Whiting Students Choose President During Mock Vote

The results are in: Barack Obama will serve another term as President of the United States.

Well, at least that's what Whiting Elementary School decided during a mock election Wednesday, when the Democrat Obama defeated his Republican challenger Mitt Romney, 117 to 110 votes. 

While the actual presidential election is over a month away, kindergarten through fifth grade students and school staff had the chance to learn about their civic duty with real voting machines provided by the Ocean County Board of Elections. 

"It's fun to see them practicing to become good citizens," said Loreen Reiman, a fifth grade teacher who ran the mock vote along with teacher Paulina Iwaszkowska.

"They need to know the importance of voting," said Principal Fran Scudese. 

After casting their ballot, students received an "I Voted" sticker which were cut and colored by classmates. 

According to Reiman, Whiting Elementary's presidential race results are pretty good at reflecting the actual winner. 

"Whiting school has always voted the way the election goes," Reiman said. "They've been pretty accurate."

During the 2000 election, Whiting students even encountered some contested ballots, Reiman said, mirroring the race between George W. Bush and Al Gore. 

For about a week before the vote, the fifth grade class researched the candidates and issues, then presented their findings to other grades. 

"They've worked really hard and they're very excited," Reiman said.

Students also manned voter sign-in logs and ran the voting booths, Reiman said.

Normally students might vote for other legislative candidates. But the availability of the voting machines meant that there was not enough time to properly research them all, leading teachers to only hold a presidential contest.