Students at St. Patrick's High School participate in a mock vote in the cafeteria. Image courtesy of Blake Morrison.Students at St. Patrick's High School participate in a mock vote in the cafeteria. Image courtesy of Blake Morrison.
Sarnia

Mock provincial election vote at St. Pat's

St. Patrick's High School students are participating in a mock vote for the provincial election Tuesday.

Grade 11 and 12 law teacher Blake Morrison said the resources to hold a simulated polling station at the school were provided by the Student-Vote Program.

"We've been doing this with this organization since 2011," said Morrison. "So, whenever there's a municipal, provincial or federal election, they give teachers like myself, who sign up for it, all the resources. It's a great organization."

Morrison said each class will be called in an orderly process to cast their secret vote.

"They give me the ballot screens, the ballot boxes and also lesson plans to help them understand the issues and the platforms of the parties."

A mock ballot students at St. Patrick's High School to participate in a simulated vote in the cafeteria. Image courtesy of Blake Morrison. (A mock ballot students at St. Patrick's High School to participate in a simulated vote in the cafeteria. Image courtesy of Blake Morrison.)

Morrison said they'll be using a replica of the actual ballot being issued to Lambton County voters this election.

"We've got slightly less than 1,400 ballots. One for each student. So, they're going to be coming down to the cafeteria and casting a vote."

He said the entire process should take no longer than 15 minutes.

Leading up to the vote, Morrison said his students had to create videos promoting one of the seven candidates' platforms.

"I really work hard to try and ensure that when the students go behind the screening device to mark their ballot, they have an idea as to who those people are that they're marking off and it's not just some silly random choice that they're making uninformed."

Results of the mock vote will be shared after the formal results are received from the June 2 election.

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