Peabody middle school students cast their votes

PEABODY – Nearly 1,400 Higgins Middle School students turned out to cast their vote in the Massachusetts Presidential Primary Tuesday. Although their votes may not impact who’s elected President, they certainly have an impact on their education.Seventh grade social studies teacher Amanda Veiga organized the school’s first mock election complete with ushers, voter registration lines, sign holders, ballots, and ballot counters.”We discuss politics so much in our class and relate them to early civilizations that I thought it would be such a great idea if the entire school could learn to love politics and civic duty as much as my students were discovering,” Veiga said.Her Panthers cluster of 100 students spent weeks preparing for Super Tuesday by creating voting booths, lists of “registered voters,” and an official ballot box. They also decorated the library with patriotic red and white balloons, streamers, and banners.”We were trying to create an authentic, patriotic environment for the students so that they will feel so proud to cast their ballot,” said Veiga. “Hopefully in the future, they will use their right to vote. I personally feel the more accustomed one is with a process the more likely they will be to participate in it.”And accustomed these students were.Each one was assigned a specific role throughout the day, which made for a rather smooth and organized process. Their enthusiasm and genuine interest in the project showed when it came to interacting with the voters.If a voter’s name didn’t appear on the registered list of voters, it wasn’t a problem. Any one of the several employees at the sign-in station were ready and able to help.If a voter wasn’t sure if they were a Democrat or a Republican, well all they had to do was ask ballot giver David Cunha.”If someone doesn’t know, I tell them who’s on which ballot, then direct them where to go next,” said Cunha, who sat at the small desk before the booths.Official ballots were provided by City Clerk Tim Spanos, who spoke with the group on Friday about how to run a polling location.”He’s so nice. He taught us about voting, voting machines, and how primaries contribute to the elections,” said seventh-grader Samantha Borelli.The students read newspapers, magazines, and searched the Internet for as much information on the candidates and the political parties they represent before casting their votes.Some thought it was easy to vote.”Democrats care about everyone, and Republicans, not so much,” said Tayla Ginnetti, who voted Democratically.Others found the process to be a bit tiresome and difficult.”It’s wicked intense,” said Emily Zorzonello, who chose not to vote for Hillary Clinton, as she wants to become the first lady president.”It’s so diverse,” said Alexandra Romano. “There are so many different people running, it’s hard to decide.” Romano said she’d like to see a president who has a good strategy and follows through with it.”I don’t want someone who just talks,” said Romano.Mackenzie Foster said she felt some temptation to vote as her parents did, but she chose not to.”You need to vote on your own,” she said. “You can’t vote on what others do.”For eighth-grader Ica Nini and seventh-graders Ina Shkurti and Anna Lopez, Tuesday’s mock election was more than just fun practice. It was their first taste of American democracy.Both Nini and Shkurti are immigrants from Albania and Lopez is an immigrant from the Dominican Republic. All three knew exactly who they wanted to vote for and look forward to the day their votes really count.By the end of the school day, 1,382 votes were cast. Clinton came in at the top with 501 votes. Barack Obama was close behind with 484. John McCain stole the glory from former Bay State governor Mitt Romney with 195 votes. Romney had 158.Chuck Norris, Superman, and Winnie the Pooh received write-ins, but not enough to declare either one of them as the Primary winner.