More than 400 students vote in high school's Super Tuesday mock election

Senators Barack Obama and John McCain trounced the competition in Amsterdam High School’s mock election on Super Tuesday.

More than 400 AHS students - or about one-third of the student population - cast ballots , as voters around the country went to the polls in one of the most widely anticipated primary elections in United States history.

The idea for the high school's mock election was devised by teachers in the social studies department, who thought it would be a good exercise for students, given the enormous media coverage of the primaries, said social studies teacher Stuart Palczak.

“We thought it was a no-brainer,” he said.

Of the high school’s 1,200 students, 779 registered to vote, and 423 – or 54 percent – eventually cast ballots.

The 132 Amsterdam High School Republicans who cast ballots fell in line with Republicans around the country, handing McCain a victory with 65 votes to Mike Huckabee’s 28 votes. Mitt Romney came in third with 25 votes, and was followed by U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, TX, with 14 votes.

However, the 291 Amsterdam Democrats bucked the New York State Democratic party by choosing Obama over Sen. Hillary Clinton, 192-94. Coming in third was Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel, who received 5 votes, or less than 2 percent.

Palczak said the high school primary was set up like a real election would be, meaning students could register, but were not forced to vote, nor did social studies teachers bring their classes to the voting booths.

“We wanted to make it as real as possible to give them a feel for how things work in the real world,” he said.

The mock vote was so successful that the social studies department plans is already planning to conduct another one during the general election in November. However, Palczak said he and the other social studies teachers hope the experience will spur the students who can vote to do so.