TV Students Practice Civic Duty

Every year Secretary of State Paul Pate’s office sponsors a youth straw poll across the state with hundreds of schools and thousands of students participating.  Each year students vote for various offices or topics, and with the 2024 Election, this year students voted for president/vice president and their congressional seat.  

At Turkey Valley, government teacher, Ms. Michelle Nystel spent most of October preparing her seniors to participate in their first election cycle, culminating with a mock election Oct. 24.  

In class government students learned about the election process through readings and guest speakers.  On the day of the mock election the seniors planned and set up the election for all students 4th-12th grade to vote during their lunch period. Students practiced registering, receiving a ballot, learning the rules of voting, and lastly submitting their ballot and receiving their “I Voted” sticker.  

The day following the election the seniors counted the ballots, looking for irregularities and verifying the results

Of 243 eligible voters (students and secondary staff), 168 cast a ballot. The results are as follow:

Trump/Vance

110

Harris/Walz

30

Oliver/Maat

1

Ayyadurai/Ellis

3

de la Cruz/Garcia

2

Stodden/Cholensky

1

Kennedy Jr./Shanahan

4

Hinson

111

Corkery

29

Puffet

8