Photo

Click on photo to enlarge

Special to the Daily Journal/Messenger

Oconee County Elections Director Joy Brooks (left) and 8th grade Social Studies teacher Amy Klaren assist student Quonteshia Gaines as she votes in the mock election.

SENECA — If children are any indicator of their parents' voting intentions, today could be a great day for Barack Obama.

Eighth-grade social studies teacher Amy Klaren put her Seneca Middle School students to work last week, allowing them to participate in the National Student/Parent Mock Election. To give students a true picture of the election process, they were required to register prior to voting and also had to present an identification before voting.

Mirroring the real world status of incarcerated adults, students who were in in-school suspension that day were not allowed to vote. The students submitted votes for the president, U.S. Senate and U.S. House races for their home district.

Oconee County Registration and Elections Director Director Joy Brooks came to observe the voting and hand out voting stickers to students as they completed the process.

Local student votes were added to the state and national totals. The results were as follows:

Seneca Middle School

President — Barack Obama, 57.83 percent; John McCain, 38.82 percent; third party candidates, 3.33 percent

U.S. Senate — Lindsey Graham, 61.15 percent; Bob Conley, 38.84 percent

U.S. House — Gresham Barrett, 57.18 percent; Jane Dyer, 42.82 percent

South Carolina

President — Barack Obama; 54.79 percent; John McCain, 41.35 percent; third party candidates, 2.67 percent

National

President — Barack Obama, 63.83 percent; John McCain, 32.51 percent; third party candidates, 2.96 percent