South students practice voting with mock election!

On Friday, Oct. 25, South students exercised their civic duty in a schoolwide Mock Election hosted by Student Government. Featuring repurposed cardboard “ballot boxes” of vibrant red, white, and blue, alongside specialized student-made voter pamphlets and ballots, the simulated election brought three contentious political races to your very own South Eugene High School cafeteria for the day. The issues on the ballot were the U.S. Presidential Election, Oregon’s 4th Congressional District Representative, and Oregon’s Attorney General.

In participating in this process, South students joined 33,654 students statewide as part of the 2024 Oregon Student Mock Election (OSME) hosted by the League of Women Voters of Oregon (LWVOR). The experience-based educational program, endorsed by the Oregon Secretary of State, allowed students to participate in the electoral process and educate themselves regarding specific candidates and ballot measures. 

Let’s break down the results from South’s Mock Election below:

Democrat Kamala Harris won the presidential race with 69.75 percent of the vote. Third-party candidates and Republican Donald Trump followed in a close race for second, receiving 15.22 and 15.04 percent, respectively. 

Democrat Val Hoyle won the House of Representatives seat for Oregon’s 4th Congressional District, receiving 74.27 percent of the vote. DeSpain received 16.06 percent. Third party candidates trailed with 9.67 percent. 

Democrat Dan Rayfield won the race for Oregon’s Attorney General, receiving 72.53 percent of the vote. Lathrop received 14.65 percent. Third-party candidates trailed with 12.82 percent.

Of 552 presidential ballots, 84 went toward a pool of 43 write-in candidates, which included popular and notorious celebrities; South teachers, students, and friends; and even politicians – past and present – including former president Abraham Lincoln, third-party presidential candidate turned Trump-endorser Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein.

Regarding the Mock Election, Zach Lazar – South science and social studies teacher (and, in fact, one of the write-in candidates himself) – remarked, “I think it’s really, really great. For starters, it’s very well-run. It’s very efficient. I brought all three of my civics classes here, and they’ve been in and out in less than 10 minutes.”

Indeed, the event owes its success to nearly a month of preparation by South’s Student Government. Sophomore senators Amelie Wei and Yehuda Zaretsky described the planning process for the Mock Election. Wei was in charge of designing the specialized voter’s guide and ballot for South.

“I took inspiration from the real pamphlet and the real ballots,” she said, “but I created a separate one for just the South Eugene Mock Election because we’re not doing the same candidates as the real election. We’ve put a lot of effort into it.” 

Taken with the student-organized nature of the event, the high number of humorous (and even infamous) write-in candidates received by Student Government certainly brought an authentically student-driven character to the election. 

Meanwhile, Zaretsky, one of the crafters of the ballot boxes, captured Student Government’s goal for the event. 

“I hope to see people being interested in our voting system for the election and having people feel like they have a say,” Zaretsky said. 

This was a sentiment echoed by Lazar.

“I think it’s really good for students to get practice trying to educate themselves about a candidate,” Lazar said, “in this case six candidates – and actually fill out a little bubble, show an ID…so it’s a really meaningful practice.”For students young and old, some of whom have already pre-registered to vote, and some who voted in the 2024 election, the event provided a unique opportunity to practice casting their votes. Today in America, young people have the lowest turnout of any age group – hopefully, students now feel empowered to participate actively in our democracy in the elections to come. Whether South students end up “deciding” this year’s Presidential Election or not, this reporter believes that the Mock Election has brought the important value of civic duty to South Eugene High School.
Vote on!

Article by Lily Yao