Rocking the mock vote

Alicia Robinson

As Heidi Schultheis turns 18 today, she will inaugurate her legal

adulthood by helping people participate in democracy’s most important

ritual.

Schultheis and other members of Newport Harbor High School’s

Student Political Action Committee are holding a mock election, which

began Tuesday and continues today, to get students interested in

politics even if they’re not all old enough to cast official ballots.

“It’s hard to get kids politically involved, especially kids that

are younger than 18, because they know they won’t be voting, so you

try to get them to pay attention to the biggest issue,” Schultheis

said, explaining that the presidential race is mainly what students

are talking about. “I think it’s kind of reflective of how a lot of

the country reacts, because we have terrible voter turnout.”

The Student Political Action Committee wants to turn that

statistic around. With 60 active members and about 20 on the fringes,

the committee is the biggest club on campus. The club devoted the

month of October to election awareness, hosting a political speaker,

a debate night and an essay contest on how students can influence

politics even if they can’t yet vote.

“Really, the whole point of doing the mock election and election

month is to get the students informed about the election process and

how that affects them,” said Blaise Brunda, the club’s 17-year-old

co-president.

The club was founded six years ago by two students in Phil

D’Agostino’s advanced-placement U.S. history class. He serves as the

club’s advisor.

“This year the club is so big that we’re functioning by

committee,” D’Agostino said. “It’s almost like Congress.”

Students seem more politically engaged this year than ever before,

said D’Agostino. He can tell by the stickers on their notebooks.

“Instead of having Volcom or Quiksilver stickers, you see

political stickers now,” he said.

On Tuesday morning, a flood of students poured into two voting

sites to make their choices for president and senator and vote on

three statewide ballot initiatives. Parent volunteers, with lists of

students’ names, checked them off as they came in and collected

ballots, which the students took to makeshift cardboard voting booths

to fill out in private.

Some students said they voted because young people deserve a say

in the political process, while others were simply curious.

“I just wanted to know how it felt and know how they do it,” said

sophomore Sasha Peavey, 14. “It was kind of what I expected.”

A minuscule exit poll showed Newport Harbor as a “red” school,

with only one student among the handful polled supporting Democrat

John Kerry for president. A few students were disappointed to see

that Reform Party candidate Ralph Nader wasn’t on their ballots.

Some said they think President Bush knows what he’s doing in Iraq

and would handle the war there better than Kerry would. Sophomore

Blair Tarnutzer’s estimation of the candidates showed a

disillusionment that has trickled down even to those who can’t

legally vote. The 15-year-old said she’s backing President Bush.

“I don’t know if he’s the best candidate,” she said. “I just

really don’t like Kerry. I don’t think I like any of their opinions

100%, but if I had to choose it’d definitely be Bush.”

Students’ ballots will be counted Thursday, and the results will

be sent to the Secretary of State. The numbers will be added to

others from around the country as part of the National Student/Parent

Mock Election, which is run by a nonprofit, nonpartisan volunteer

group of the same name.

Most of the students voting at Newport Harbor High School won’t be

casting ballots on Nov. 2, and some of them said they’re disappointed

by that.

“With teenagers, it could change the entire outcome of the vote if

we were allowed to,” said sophomore Michelle Hart, 15.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at

[email protected].