Students vote in mock election
By: Melissa Randall
@MRandallABC6
Students in Coventry take their civic responsibility very seriously. The 5th through 8th graders at Father John V. Doyle made their voices heard by hosting a mock election Monday.
“When I came to school today I was kind of excited because I actually get a say,” said Nigel Stafford, 12.
ABC6 News sat down with a group of 7th graders to find out what issues they think are most important. Given all the political mudslinging and scandals their answers may surprise you.
“I’ve heard about all these terrorist attacks and I’m always kind of afraid of that, so I want to kind of be safer and protected from those things,” said Madeline Green, 12.
“Well I think employment is very important thing to have because a lot of people don’t have jobs,” said Neil Dundca, 12.
“All of them are saying that they want to like be better and do something big, but I’m trying to think like where are they going to get the money for this stuff? Is that going to raise our taxes?” asked Julia Benoit, 12.
“I think taxes because a lot of people like middle class, they work for their money and the rich people are not paying like a lot of taxes supposedly,” said Nigel Stafford, 12.
Once they selected the candidate most in line with their values the student’s ballots were then tallied live through website kidvote.com.
Social studies teacher Dennis Godin was then able to pull the data up on the screen so the kids could see how their peers voted.
Clinton was off to an early lead across most of the country, but in Rhode Island it was Trump who was out in front.
“In more than one case kids have predicted the winners of different elections so who knows,” said Godin.
The pre-teens say they are grateful for the opportunity to make their voices heard, something they hope adults don’t take for granted.
“You should definitely vote and don’t base it off of what everyone else is saying. Do what you want to do,” said Benoit.
© WLNE-TV 2016
