HHS held its annual mock election yesterday. Students voted for the governor and senator of Minn., with help from the AP U.S. Government classes.

“We’re currently learning about [the election process] so it’s giving us experience of the whole thing,” said Emily Eiss, senior.

The AP U.S. Government classes, taught by Mr. Unruh-Friesen, social studies, orchestrated the election. His third block class administered the ballots, and his fourth block class counted them.

“A lot of kids can’t vote yet, but they are going to be able to soon. They may not have the influence at home, but they should vote because your vote really matters, no matter who you are,” said Lauren Feagler, senior.

Similar to the real election process in Minnesota, HHS chose to use paper ballots. The election occurred during all three lunches, but not every HHS student voted.

“It doesn’t give an accurate representation of the school either because not everyone voted and some kids are a lot less likely to care about a school election, so you don’t get to know how everyone feels about politics,” said Zoe Epperson, junior.

Among those students was an AP U.S. Government student, Edgard Konde, senior.

“I had to get to the lunch line,” Konde said. “Third lunch always runs out of food, so I had decide between voting and eating. I chose to eat.”

Similar to the real world, many Americans don’t have the time to add voting to their schedules. Perhaps a two-day election process, or at HHS, an all-day election, would prompt more citizens, and students, to get out and vote.

“18 to 25-year-olds are the most underrepresented group because we don’t vote, and we should,” Feagler said. “There are a lot of issues that we’d like a say in, but it’s not always the popular thing to vote.”

The HHS ballot, similar to a real ballot, had a write-in section. Student responses included: Kjetil Seefelt, install a totalitarian dictatorship, the band Quincy, and Barack Obama.

At HHS, the student body re-elected Mark Dayton as governor and Al Franken as senator, mirroring the official results of the Minn. election.